{"id":198565,"date":"2026-06-25T13:34:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:34:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=198565"},"modified":"2026-06-25T13:34:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-25T11:34:35","slug":"analyse-hoorzitting-corona-oud-minister-van-engelshoven-kreeg-geen-enkele-lastige-vraag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2026\/06\/25\/analyse-hoorzitting-corona-oud-minister-van-engelshoven-kreeg-geen-enkele-lastige-vraag\/","title":{"rendered":"Analysis of hearing on Covid: former minister Van Engelshoven faced no tough questions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lockdowns, self-tests, online exams, waste of money\u2026 The parliamentary inquiry committee on Covid appeared poorly prepared for the hearing of former education minister Ingrid van Engelshoven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the autumn of 2020, the coronavirus measures left the campus virtually deserted.<\/p>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTessa Hofland<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Student wellbeing took a hit during the coronavirus crisis. They were not allowed on campus and could not go to pubs either. Student associations could do little. Was that really their student experience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last Monday, former education minister Ingrid van Engelshoven appeared before a parliamentary inquiry committee that aims to draw lessons from the Covid crisis. But Van Engelshoven did not give much away. She could not recall details and kept repeating the same line: it was not ideal, but there was little else we could do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The committee did not make a sharp impression. Even the very first question: \u201cWhat is your view, as education minister, on education?\u201d Van Engelshoven nearly laughed: \u201cThat is quite a broad question.\u201d It led nowhere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Controversial issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Strikingly, the most controversial issues during the Covid crisis were barely discussed. Universities of applied sciences and universities responded very slowly<\/a> to the arrival of the virus. Even when Covid was spreading in Italy, they were still reluctant to consider an outbreak in the Netherlands. Only once it arrived did they fully mobilise. This was not addressed during the hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or take the free self-tests the government purchased for higher education. They cost hundreds of millions of euros, and even after a pilot it was clear<\/a> the voluntary tests would not be effective. Van Engelshoven later acknowledged<\/a> this as well. But during the hearing she referred to the self-tests as an example of good coordination with institutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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\n\t\t'Students often felt it was a very serious invasion of their privacy, having to keep their camera on and show their room' \n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Privacy and cameras<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Another notable issue at the time was the handling of student privacy. During online exams, institutions used \u201cproctoring\u201d, meaning cameras and monitoring software on students\u2019 laptops. Van Engelshoven: \u201cStudents often felt it was a very serious invasion of their privacy, having to keep their camera on and show their room. I can fully understand that people would feel that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the institutions also wanted to safeguard exam quality, she added, and she understood that too. \u201cYou have to discuss that properly with each other\u201d, she told the Covid committee, \u201cbut in the end we always managed to align.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aligned? Student representatives are likely to disagree. They had no say<\/a> in the use of proctoring. Tensions ran high<\/a> among students. At the time, Van Engelshoven said they should not be so difficult. \u201cIn times like these, everyone sometimes has to accept<\/a> things that are less pleasant\u201d, she said then. It even led to court cases, but the parliamentary committee did not ask about this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Student wellbeing<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

And student wellbeing? As early as October 2020, six months into the crisis, students protested<\/a> at Museumplein in Amsterdam, carefully spaced 1.5 metres apart. They demanded more teaching and more creative solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight, Van Engelshoven says her ministry should have done more \u201cupstream thinking\u201d, so that the knowledge and expertise of educational institutions could be used for tailored solutions. That did not happen, and she did not give the impression \u2013 neither at the time nor during the hearing \u2013 that she saw this as a major problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

QR codes<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During the crisis, even the possibility of keeping education open using a Covid access pass was considered: only vaccinated students with a QR code would be allowed on campus. Van Engelshoven herself raised this during the hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Question from the committee: \u201cDid you seriously consider this?\u201d Yes, was the answer. In fact, unbeknownst to the committee, a general administrative order had already been sent to the House of Representatives to enable such access passes in higher education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said she would not have been happy with it. She called it \u201ca very heavy measure\u201d, because \u201cit also means making things harder for people who did not want or were unable to obtain a Covid access pass.\u201d And then the committee moved on to something else again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\t

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Een lijst met artikelen<\/h2>\n\t\t\n\t\t
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