More wealthy parents in Netherlands are opting for private schools because they feel their children will receive an education more suited to their needs than in state schools, a survey by the education inspectorate has shown.

The number of private schools in the Netherlands has tripled in just eight years, school inspectors found. There are now some 134 primary and secondary private schools across the country, compared to 44 in 2015.

The schools are not subsidised and fees can run up to between €25,000 and €35,000 a year. The Netherlands also has some 53 international schools, which are also fee-paying.

Regular schools do not “move with the times” and the changing social needs, according to some of the schools’ founders.  Parents also want education to reflect their outlook on life, they say.

Other parents said state schools did not meet their child’s educational needs and they were unhappy there. Highly gifted children, or children who are highly sensitive, autistic or challenged in other social-emotional ways thrive at private schools where class sizes are smaller and children benefit from more individual attention, they said.

Experts have said the rise in private schools is worrying. “The Dutch education system is geared towards equality. How rich people are plays a relatively minor role,” education sociologist Dieuwke Zwier told RTL Nieuws.

Private schools upset the idea of equal opportunity and accessibility to education, she said. Private schools are beyond most people’s means, and an educational divide can also affect the social fabric of society. Children who go to private schools are less likely to meet children from other backgrounds, she said.

“It is understandable from an individual point of view if you have the means and are dissatisfied with regular education,” Zwiers said. “But you have to ask if this is doing society any favours. Not all children can go to a private school and it is the children who don’t come from an affluent background who would benefit the most from a good education,” she said.

There are some lessons to be learned by regular schools, school inspector Lucas Verbunt said. For example, some children cannot cope at regular schools for a variety of reasons and either stay at home or go to private schools.

“Private schools should not be an emergency solution for those children,” he said.  “There must be a place for every child in regular education. Private schools are a way of expressing preference for a certain type of education, not because it is a last resort.”