School children learning about the Court of Audit’s work in 2014
The Netherlands Court of Audit is celebrating its bicentenary in 2014. The anniversary is being used to involve school children more closely in the Court’s work. Staff from the Court have given guest lessons at secondary schools and an educational newspaper has been issued expressly for schools. A special audit was also carried out to determine the costs and benefits of higher education. The audit was the outcome of a competition asking all school children in the Netherlands to think of an audit question for the Court of Audit.
The Court of Audit is currently auditing the quality of school buildings in the Netherlands. School children, their parents and teachers throughout the Netherlands have been invited to share their thoughts about the quality of their school buildings with the Court of Audit in September.
The results of the school audit were presented to the pupils of the Augustinianum school in Eindhoven on 5 June. They had won the competition the Court of Audit had set for secondary schools to set an audit question. The pupils in the fifth year of pre-university education were very curious about the costs and benefits of higher education. The Court then developed a ‘benefit checker’ so that everyone can work out how much an education costs and what the average graduate earns after completing a course. It also shows how many years an average graduate must pay tax before the State recoups its investment in the education.
Auditors from the Court of Audit visited several secondary schools to give guest lessons. They discussed the Court´s role in society and explained how it carried out its work. A special newspaper was issued for the guest lessons and handed out to the children.
For more information, contact press officer Wietske de Jong-Keetman on +31 (0)6 1192 5034.