For the first time, though, a number of well-educated and outspoken parents found themselves unable to enroll their children. How is this possible, they cried, in a region that has always prided itself on its education system? How could this happen to us? And just how, De Standaard columnist Tom Naegels wondered, is it possible that every single one of these mothers looks like she could be a graphic designer? The parents we hear, he noted, are the ones with easy access to the media. The ones that used to camp at the school gates because they were aware that this was what it took. Meanwhile, a great number of less articulate parents are never heard.

Whether richer or poorer children are hit, the shortage is there, and everyone looks to Pascal Smet to solve it. The new socialist education minister, under pressure, has promised that every child will have a place in school by September. Now there’s a challenge.

In the Flemish government, strapped for cash as it is, education is one of the toughest departments. Too many stakeholders make it impossible to move swiftly. The individual school and the networks they belong to both have a great deal of autonomy. The unions do not hesitate to show their teeth.

There is the principle of freedom of education, which in Flanders mostly boils down to giving parents a free choice between Catholic and state schools. There is also the legacy of Frank Vandenbroucke, Smet’s predecessor, who, for all his shortcoming, has built up a great deal of respect within the slowmoving education field. And then, of course, there are those graphic designer mums…

All of that contrasts sharply with Smet’s temperament. He is dynamic and ambitious. He wants to make things happen. Now. He has been nicknamed “Duracell bunny” for his lack of patience. Well, he will need all the energy he can get to pull this one off.