The Flemish Support Centre for Adult Education (VOCVO) will for the first time receive a long-term contract for the organisation of education in prisons in Flanders, reported Minister of Education Ben Weyts.
Until now, VOCVO received funding on a year-by-year basis but a recent audit showed that this system lacked certainty, stability and room for a long-term perspective. In response, a multi-year agreement of at least three years is now being concluded – the first of its kind Belga News Agency reports.
VOCVO coordinates educational provisions in prisons, giving inmates the opportunity to train to become bakers or roofers or study Dutch or Mathematics, for example. In 2022, 2,515 of a total of about 5,500 detainees in Flemish prisons took a VOCVO course.
"VOCVO can now further strengthen the prison education offer. This is important for the fight against reoffending. Those who receive education in prison are 43% less likely to relapse and up to 13 times more likely to get a job after release," the minister said.
Related News
- How does overcrowding in Belgian prisons damage rehabilitation?
- Recruitment drive brings in prison staff but Belgian cells still overcrowded
The adult education centres and basic education centres that collaborate on the educational provision in prisons will now also get more clarity, according to the minister.
