PARAMARIBO, Suriname, CMC – Suriname has bestowed Knight in the Order of Honor of the Yellow Star on Cees Verschoor, who has been active in education and social development for over three decades.
President Chandrikapersad “Chan” Santokhi said the award recognizes Verschoor’s years of dedication to education and the social development of Surinamese children in the Netherlands and the Dutch-speaking Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Suriname.
In 1990, he started the School Reading Aid project, in which civil servants and people from the business community support schoolchildren with reading difficulties. At a time when ‘social involvement’ often gets stuck in policy documents and pilot projects, Verschoor managed to recruit dozens of volunteers.
What started as a local initiative at Rotterdam primary schools grew into a cross-border operation. In 2005, Verschoor, better known in Rotterdam and the surrounding area as Cees, accompanied 14 Rotterdam teachers on a working visit to Suriname.
There, he was confronted with the dire lack of basic materials in Surinamese classrooms: no books, no methods, and hardly any notebooks and pens – let alone decent school furniture. That visit was the seed for the Schoolhulpproject Suriname (SHPS), a private initiative that, at first glance, achieved astonishingly large-scale results.
From 2006 to 2018, 82 (40 ft) sea containers with school supplies were shipped to Suriname, and more than 22,000 student sets were delivered, spread over 261 schools. The operation required hundreds of truck rides through the Netherlands, supported by more than a hundred volunteers and contributions from countless sponsors.
Social historian Roy Sankatsin says that Cees’ strength lies in his organizational talent and ability to mobilize people.
“Year in, year out, he inspired volunteers, teachers, parents, politicians – even mayors and aldermen – for the cause. His work is not without obligation; he is not a passer-by, not a temporary helper in transit.
“Every year until the pandemic, he traveled to Suriname for four weeks at his own expense to be active in schools there. And after the two-year break, he picked up the thread again. His last trip was in March of this year.”
”The Honorary Order of the Yellow Star is awarded in Suriname to citizens who have made an exceptional contribution to the country. In that sense, Cees Verschoor’s award is fitting. But it also poses an uncomfortable question: should citizens become heroes to fill the gaps that governments fail?
“Cees Verschoor has shown what is possible with idealism, perseverance, and networking skills. The award is a recognition of his merits. But it is also a mirror: for the Netherlands, which has difficulty creating structural policy for equal educational opportunities,” Sankatsing added.
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