Some 6,000 students started a Pabo primary school teacher training course this academic year, almost 500, or 9%, more than the year before, figures from student finance body Duo have shown.

This means the number of first year students attending teacher training courses is higher than all other HBO training courses for the first time in years.

Maurice Limmen, chairman of the HBO association said a score of 9% is ”exceptional”.

“We are all worried about declining basic skills and the level of arithmetic and language. Primary school is where you can start to make a difference. That attracts people,” he told broadcaster NOS.

Teacher training colleges have also tried to make their courses a more attractive option, for instance by exempting people who come from other professions from subjects they are already proficient in. “If you have a degree in mathematics you don’t have to learn arithmetic,” Limmen said.

Primary teachers also have more career chances, he pointed out. “The only position teachers could hope for was head of a school. Now they can develop into language or arithmetic specialists.”

More people have also begun training to be nurses as well, after years of decline. The number of new students rose by 3.1% although a large number of people already working in healthcare have been leaving the profession each year.

The figures also show a further decline in the number of international students taking a degree at an HBO college, or “university of applied science” as they are known abroad.

The number of EU students fell 8.5% last year, and non-EU students by 5.5%. Only 8% of HBO bachelor degree students come from abroad.