Children and school on Bonaire: Dutch education, one secondary school and $ 239 child benefit

Yes, your children go to a Dutch school on Bonaire: the Inspectorate of Education has supervised it since 10 October 2010, and the schools are part of the education system of the Netherlands. What it costs is above all what you have to apply for: the child benefit of $ 239 per child per month does not come by itself, and childcare in 2026 costs $ 100 a month at the maximum number of sessions. The trap is scale. For secondary education there is one school, the Scholengemeenschap Bonaire, and the compulsory education act doesn't stop at the island: whoever leaves outside the holidays with a child of school age must be able to show a declaration at the border.

How is education organised?

Children attend primary school from their fourth up to and including their twelfth year. The core objectives are those of the Netherlands, with one addition that marks the island: alongside Dutch and English, Papiamentu is a learning area of its own in the core objectives. For what follows there is the Scholengemeenschap Bonaire, where young people from twelve up to and including eighteen follow (special) secondary and vocational education at various levels. One school, then, and therefore also one place where the offer ends: what the SGB does not offer does not exist on the island. The Inspectorate also mentions one private primary school in the whole of the Caribbean Netherlands.

How does compulsory education work?

The Compulsory Education Act BES has applied since 1 January 2011. Compulsory education runs for children from 4 up to and including 16: every child is enrolled at a school until its sixteenth birthday and actually attends. After that the qualification duty begins for those without a basic qualification, a havo, vwo or mbo level 2 diploma, and it lasts until the day the young person obtains such a diploma or turns eighteen. The public entity's attendance officer checks; schools report unauthorised absence, and parents as well as young people from the age of twelve risk a fine, a young person also a learning or community sentence.

One rule is new for those coming from the Netherlands: if a pupil wants to go abroad outside the school holidays, he or she must show a declaration of exemption, dispensation, leave or relocation at the border. A family visit to the Netherlands in an ordinary school week is therefore something you arrange with the school beforehand.

What does it cost and what do you get?

Item	Amount or deadline (2026)
Child benefit Bonaire	$ 239 per child per month, no means test
Applying for child benefit	by e-mail to the RCN unit SZW; legally at most 8 weeks processing
Retroactive effect of child benefit	at most 12 months
Child benefit stops	in the month after the child turns 18
Parental contribution for childcare at the maximum number of sessions	$ 100 per child per month (day care and after-school care)
Parental contribution from 2027	4% of the cost of the care
Fewer than 5 days of care a week	20% of the maximum parental contribution per day
Compulsory education	4 up to and including 16; qualification duty until 18 or a basic qualification

The RCN unit SZW pays the child benefit monthly, from the month in which you meet the conditions on the first day; whoever applies later gets at most twelve months back. You apply with a form by e-mail. For childcare the rules of the Childcare Act BES have applied since 1 January 2026: from the second quarter of 2026 the RCN unit SZW pays a large part of the costs directly to the childcare provider, the provider may not charge parents extra costs, and whoever cannot pay the contribution applies to the public entity for a child-place subsidy.

Apply for child benefit in the first weeks. The Dutch child benefit from the SVB stopped when you deregistered, the Bonaire one only starts after an application, and the twelve months of retroactive effect are the only give in the system. Whoever waits a year has lost the months before that.

And when they go on to study?

That means leaving, and the RCN has two schemes for it. Whoever goes to study in the Caribbean region, the United States or Canada applies to the RCN for Student Finance BES, a performance grant with an optional loan. Whoever goes to study in the Netherlands applies to DUO for the ordinary Dutch student finance and in addition, once, for a start-up allowance from the RCN, meant for the crossing, equipment, furnishing and bridging. Conditions: younger than thirty, living in the Caribbean Netherlands and Dutch nationality, or otherwise at least ten years on the islands. The start-up allowance is paid out as a provisional loan with interest; whoever graduates within the ten-year diploma term sees the performance grant including interest converted into a gift.

What else changes for the family, from healthcare to the safety net that isn't there, is in the other articles; the order after arrival is in the step-by-step plan for Bonaire.

In Vertrekklaar this is phase 5 of 5 of the journey, step 5.4: the same steps, but for your situation — in your order, tickable, and with the deadlines watched. See the whole journey to Bonaire or go straight to step 5.4 in the open plan.