The first group of new Aruba students arrived at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Monday. (Aruba House photo)
AMSTERDAM--The first batch of Aruban students arrived in the Netherlands on Monday.
It concerns a group of 73 students. In total, 421 students are coming to the Netherlands from Aruba in August to further their studies.
The students arrived on KLM flight 732 at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport on Monday morning where they were met by a delegation consisting of Acting Minister Plenipotentiary Eddy Paris, representatives of the Education Department of the Aruba House in The Hague, study mentors and members of the local coaching committees.
More students after arriving
On Tuesday, the students will take part in an obligatory introductory programme which will last from three days to one week, depending on several factors. During these days, the new students will receive the necessary guidance in the city where they will be studying.
The Aruba students will mostly go to cities like Maastricht, Venlo, Eindhoven, Utrecht Almere, Amsterdam, Diemen and The Hague, where they will attend either university or higher vocational education HBO. During the first year, the students will have a study mentor.
Present to say farewell upon the departure of the first group of students at Aruba’s Queen Beatrix Airport on Sunday was Minister Plenipotentiary Guillfred Besaril, together with caretaker Minister of Education Glenbert Croes and Director of the Education Department Annemarie Proveyer-De Groot.
Before their departure, Aruba caretaker Prime Minister Evelyn Wever-Croes encouraged the students to protect themselves and not to fall ill with COVID-19 after their arrival in the Netherlands, which would interfere with the start of their studies.
Last year, a number of students arrived from Aruba while they were infected with the coronavirus. They infected several other students. As a result, many students had to go into quarantine.
In a statement issued last Friday, the Aruba House and the mentors warned that students with COVID-19 symptoms upon arrival in the Netherlands, or with a positive test result would go into immediate quarantine or isolation, and would not be able to participate in the introductory programme.
The new students were urged not to go to large parties or gatherings in the last days before their departure from Aruba. “Even if a student is vaccinated, he or she can be infected and transmit the virus to other people with possibly grave consequences for the introductory programme and everyone involved,” stated the mentors and the representatives of the Aruba House.
“Please take good care of yourself. You don’t want to start your student time in The Netherlands with COVID-19. You don’t want to be ill there, far away from your family, in a new country that you don’t know as yet,” stated Wever-Croes, who urged all students to get tested.
The prime minister said that once they were in the Netherlands, the students should focus on their goal. “Don’t let anyone distract you from your goal. And also, don’t forget that you are an ambassador of Aruba wherever you go,” she said.
In the course of the next days and weeks, more groups of Aruba students will arrive in the Netherlands. The students from Curaçao are already in the Netherlands, while the group of students from St. Maarten is scheduled to arrive on August 10.
