The issue of whether we would be better off without the euro rumbles on, as do Dutch pension woes. Teachers are accused of heavy-handed discipline and take time off sick, while a ‘too busy’ floor is restored.

Euro or no euro?
Today’s papers mostly don’t cover the same domestic news. One story which does get multiple coverage is the euro and its continuing problems.

On an inside page, Trouw covers a report on the euro from the Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis (CPB). It is likely to be music to the ears of Geert Wilders and his populist PVV Freedom Party, says the paper. The populist PVV has commissioned a British research bureau to look into the pros and cons of reintroducing the Dutch guilder.

The CPB believes the benefits of introducing the euro remain unclear, but have certainly not been very great. However, the CPB’s official number crunchers also to warn that dismantling the single currency would reduce prosperity in the Eurozone enormously. The paper thinks Mr Wilders will be less happy with this particular conclusion. The CPB goes on to point out that nearly three-quarters of Dutch exports go to other members of the European Union.

Also on an inside page, De Telegraaf tells us that the PVV’s British researchers have already come out in favour of the ‘neuro’. They argue the only way the euro can be saved is for the weak southern economies to leave the single currency as soon as possible and for the northern European countries to keep the euro for themselves – hence, the ‘neuro’.

Pensions report
More on money, but even nearer home, in today’s de Volkskrant. It chooses to provide its own front-page news with its “annual investigation” into the state of pension funds’ finances. The news is both good and bad.

The pension funds are required to have reserves of at least 105 percent of the money they could have to pay out. Stock market woes have led to the “overwhelming majority” falling below this threshold.

The bad news is that, of the 100 major funds surveyed, only 15 have reserves at or above the 105 percent mark. The paper says over 30 pension funds are under the 90 percent level and will have to reduce their payments to pensioners.

The good news is that many major companies such as Shell, KLM, Unilever and some banks have built up considerable pension buffers, ensuring stability for their employees’ pensions. An expert explains: “Over the last few years, many big concerns have put extra money in the pension pot to deal with the shortfall”.

Heavy-handed classroom discipline?
“What should I have done”, reads the AD’s front-page headline. No complicated money matters here, but a case that raises issues around school discipline and norms. Last week, interim headteacher Rob Wesselingh came to the aid of a teacher and dragged a disruptive pupil out of his classroom.

The boy’s father came to the school to complain about the heavy-handed treatment meted out to his 13-year-old son. The man was so furious that he eventually called the police. The headteacher was arrested and taken to the station for questioning.

“The officers didn’t ask me anything,” Mr Wesselingh complains to the paper. “No interview room, but a real cell with a steel toilet. I had to take my belt off and remove my shoe laces.”

In its coverage, de Volkskrant points out no charges have been brought against Mr Wesselingh although he did spend three hours at the police station. Teachers are apparently complaining that the world’s been turned “upside down”.

They dismiss the police explanation that the interim headteacher was picked up to protect him from the boy’s furious father. An Amsterdam teacher asks de Volkskrant: “Then surely you should take away the father who’s ranting at the school gate?” “The interim will now find it almost impossible to continue normally in his job,” thinks another teacher.

Teachers sick of cuts?
Today’s nrc.next runs a related piece today commenting on the fact that there was a hike in the numbers of primary school teachers taking sick leave last year. The total cost of finding replacements for them came to 389 million euros.

The paper muses on whether the increase was caused by a particularly virulent flu outbreak? A teaching sector expert finds it “striking” that the increase “came when primary school education cuts were being implemented”. The cuts are said to have led to an increased workload.

When is a floor too busy?
The photograph on the front page of Trouw illustrates a story picked up by a number of papers. It shows the mosaic floor of Amsterdam’s Rijks Museum which has been reconstructed according to the original drawings of architect Pierre Cuypers.

The original floor was demolished in the 1990s because of damage and the fact that the museum’s then director found it “too busy”. The paper says the floor measuring 420 square metres has been “restored to its former glory”.