D66 and Labour have both said they will prioritise education if they go into government following next month’s election.

The centrist-liberal D66 group plans to spend €4.5 billion on education and innovation. It includes €1 billion to improve conditions in schools by reducing class sizes, helping children with additional needs and cutting bureaucracy for teachers.

The plans were included in the party’s manifesto but leader Alexander Pechtold cited the figures in an interview with AD, shortly before the economic planning agency CBS publishes its assessment of most parties’ spending plans.

Pechtold said: ‘Most teachers complain in the first instance not about their salary, but about not having the time and space to do their job.’

Labour (PvdA) says it will spend €2.5 billion directly on education and another €2.5 billion on setting up an investment bank to fund innovation and science.

Leader Lodewijk Asscher said his party would increase teachers’ salaries by more than 3% and allocate €500,000 towards courses for people at the lower end of the educational scale. Labour also wants to relieve pressure on teachers in deprived neighbourhoods.