Trainee teachers who decide to go on and take a Master’s degree will be eligible for a one-off grant of €3,000, education minister Sander Dekker says in Friday’s Trouw.

The aim is to increase the number of highly qualified teachers and offer them the opportunity to increase their knowledge of their chosen subjects.

University students who wish to become teachers in subjects where there are serious shortages, such as science, will qualify for a €5,000 grant.

Dekker hopes the grant will improve the quality of higher education and that 30% of primary school teachers and 50% of secondary school teachers will have a Master’s degree by 2020.

Last week it emerged there has been a sharp drop in the number of people applying for places at teacher training colleges (pabo).

The government has also stopped giving grants to new students from this academic year.

Dekker told Trouw: ‘Of course I consider the motivation to become a teacher important but finances do play a role when some students decide whether or not to train to become a teacher.’