The number of children who should be at school but are not registered with any educational establishment went up by one-third in the last academic year to 13,707, according to education ministry figures. 

The increase is “extremely shocking”, schools minister Mariëlle Paul told the upper house of parliament in a briefing. 

Nine years ago, the number of stay-at-home children was just under 6,000. 

Part of the increase is down to the number of Ukrainian nationals in the Netherlands. While 90% of them are attending Dutch schools, some 2,000 are at home. 

There are also waiting lists for the bridging classes, where children who have just moved to the Netherlands go to learn Dutch and get up to speed with the Dutch educational system, the ministry report said.

In addition, a further 8,842 children have been given official permission not to attend school because of psychiatric or physical issues, a rise of 14% over the year.

This increase is partly down to improved reporting procedures but also “shows there is an increasing mismatch between education, care needs and the needs of the children,” the official report said.