- A lost opportunity for the natural sciences
Vice President of NITO, Safina de Klerk, lacks funds that will increase science recruitment in the revised national budget.
- This is a missed opportunity. We had expected to see a solid boost to measures that will ignite the spark for science subjects among the youngest students. That would be a starting point for the government's announced science strategy," says Safina de Klerk.
Recently, de Klerk debated the government's science strategy in Dagsnytt 18 on NRK, together with Minister of Research and Higher Education Sigrun Aasland. In it, she pointed out, among other things, that the government must increase the number of hours in science subjects in lower secondary school and invest in continuing and further education of science teachers.
This has not been followed up in either the national budget for 2026 or the revised national budget.
See also: How to reverse the science crisis?
NITO is concerned about the learning of mathematics and science in lower secondary school. This leads to too few people choosing science subjects in upper secondary school and later technology studies. NITO calls for strong measures in lower secondary school, since this is where pupils' learning falls far behind that in the other Nordic countries.
