In total, 588 children have been taken out of schools said to have links to Turkish Muslim cleric Fethullah Gülen, blamed by Ankara for the failed military coup last month, Trouw said on Thursday.

That means a fifth of all children at the nine schools have been removed, the paper said. The schools – seven primary and two secondary – are located in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague, Zaandam, Purmerend and Arnhem.

The national primary school council PO says it is concerned about the education of the children who have been switched. Most are now attending other institutions but at least 76 have not been registered at a new school. Nearly all of them are in Amsterdam, the paper said.

Schools are financed on the basis of how many pupils they have and some are now under threat financially. A number of teachers have also quit because of fears that they will be linked with the Gülen movement, Dutch media said earlier.