For the third time in a few years community service for the unemployed was recently proposed again. Superficial evaluations of these experiments abroad often indicate a reduction in the number of benefit recipients.

In 2002 the Flemish government tried to address the high social inequality in education. The government chose to implement a policy specifically targeting students with a disadvantaged background by identifying them through a number of ‘equal education indicators’.

In 2009 the French Community adopted the decree for differentiated funding. In 2002 Flanders had set up a similar program (the GOK-decree). What are the results and what can we learn from them?

Withdrawing family benefits is not the solution to the drop-out. This penalty deepens the distance between the student and the school and also makes the entire family precarious. To fight against the drop-out, we must bring the school closer to the student.