The shortage of primary school teachers in some parts of the Netherlands is so acute that students in their second year of teacher training college are being offered paid work, the Volkskrant said on Tuesday.

A few years ago, newly-qualified teachers found it hard to get a job but most fourth year students have a permanent position before passing their final exams, the paper said.

Schools are also offering the best students bonuses, laptops and other gifts to lure them in and two teacher training colleges are offering new students a guaranteed job on graduation.

The paper bases its claims on interviews with officials at the nine teacher training colleges in the four big cities of Amsterdam, Utrecht, The Hague and Rotterdam where the shortage of teachers is most acute.

However, there are concerns that new teachers will find themselves overloaded with work without having had the necessary time to build up experience, the paper said.

There is currently a shortfall of some 900 primary school teachers and this is expected to increase, the paper said. The number of people qualifying as a primary school teacher has fallen from some 7,300 in 2005 to around 3,800 in 2015.