Kayak Stages Keep Kids Busy During Belgium Teacher Strike

As schools across Belgium’s French-speaking community remain closed due to an ongoing teachers’ strike against austerity measures, a kayak club in Liège has stepped in to keep children occupied — turning a crisis into an opportunity for outdoor adventure. The Royal Mava Club Sauheid is organizing “micro-stages” of kayaking for students who have been left without classes, with organizers describing the initiative as “our way of supporting the strike” while helping parents cope.

Community Response to School Closures

The strike, which began as a wildcat action in Liège around May 10, has spread rapidly across the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, leaving many schools closed and exam sessions lightened or cancelled. With the school year officially ending on July 3, thousands of students have found themselves with weeks of unscheduled time.

Valérie Pirotte, president of the Royal Mava Club Sauheid, told DH Les Sports that the idea emerged naturally. “Our instructors are in their final year of secondary school and have nothing to do. We have teenagers who no longer have class. We thought it would be a good idea to help parents find activities for their children other than screens.”

The club, which operates Belgium’s only permanent whitewater basin, is offering kayaking sessions that introduce young people to a sport they might not otherwise discover. “We have the means to keep them occupied, it’s an opportunity to discover a fairly unknown sport and be outdoors,” Pirotte added. “The idea is not to leave them alone, lost, not knowing if they’ll have exams or not, whether they’ll pass or not.”

The Strike Behind the Story

The school disruptions stem from a deepening conflict between teachers and the Liberal-Engagés government over a series of austerity measures affecting education. The government, facing a structural deficit projected to reach approximately €500 million by 2029, has approved approximately €300 million in education cuts.

Key measures include a 10% workload increase for upper secondary teachers without additional pay, stricter sick leave rules, reduced funding for free school meals and supplies, and significant tuition fee increases for higher education — up to eightfold in some cases, according to RFI.

Xavier Toussaint, president of the CSC Enseignement union, warned that the reforms would have lasting consequences. “For our students who will become university students, there will be a considerable increase in the cost of enrollment in higher education,” he told RFI. “Teachers who work with students aged 15 and older will have to work 10% more without any compensatory pay.”

A Grassroots Movement

What makes this strike unusual is its grassroots, wildcat nature. Rather than being organized by traditional unions, the movement began when teachers in Liège decided to take matters into their own hands.

Dyonissis Zoes, a teacher in Liège, described the origins to Workers Liberty: “The unions said it was going to be difficult to get people moving, because the spring holidays were coming. But a few teachers here in Liège, who had some experience with strikes to defend vocational schools, said: ‘We’re not going to wait for the union, we’re going to take charge this time.’”

Within days, the strike spread from a handful of schools to nearly all institutions in Liège and surrounding areas. “It was not a little symbolic strike, as we sometimes do,” Zoes said. “It was a full-on strike with doors blocked and people on the pavement outside the schools to stop people going in.”

The movement has since expanded to Brussels, Hainaut, Verviers, and Namur, with unions filing a strike notice covering the period until July 10. The austerity decree was approved by the Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles parliament on June 5, but teachers have vowed to continue their campaign.

Escalation and Political Fallout

The protests escalated dramatically in early June when demonstrations in Brussels were hijacked by violent groups. From June 6-9, central Brussels experienced rioting, with fires, barricades, and clashes with police. The Brussels Times reported that teachers had earlier staged a symbolic protest outside Education Minister Valérie Glatigny’s home, leaving a suitcase with the message: “Valérie, take a holiday from teaching and don’t come back!”

The violence prompted political responses, with Interior Minister Bernard Quintin proposing fines for rioters and Defense Minister Theo Francken suggesting military-style boot camps for troubled youths.

A Model of Solidarity

Amid the turmoil, the Royal Mava Club Sauheid’s initiative stands out as a constructive community response. By keeping children engaged and outdoors, the club is supporting both striking teachers and stressed parents.

School directors across the affected regions have echoed the sentiment of balancing responsibility with protest. Amandine Tuerlinckx, a school director in Brussels, told RTBF: “We held a parent meeting last night to explain our position and listen to them. They were stressed. We tried to reassure them as best we could. We are still responsible, we do our job, it matters to us.”

What’s Next

With the strike extended until the end of the school year on July 10, the need for community-driven childcare solutions is likely to grow. The kayak micro-stages in Liège may serve as a model for other organizations looking to support families during the disruption. Meanwhile, teachers have signaled they intend to continue their campaign after the summer break, keeping pressure on the government to reverse the austerity measures that sparked one of the most significant education protests in recent Belgian history.