How did pillarization affect Dutch schools and hospitals?

Pillarization, or verzuiling, was a system that organized Dutch society into self-contained ideological and religious "pillars"—primarily Catholic, Calvinist, socialist, and liberal. This structure profoundly affected public institutions, including schools and hospitals, by ensuring that each group could live a largely separate life within the Dutch state.1

• Schools: The system emerged partly from the schoolstrijd ("school conflict"), a long-standing political struggle over whether the state should fund private, denominational schools. Eventually, the pillars successfully established their own educational institutions, which received state support equivalent to that of public schools.12
• Hospitals and Services: Beyond education, pillarization involved the founding of separate hospitals, periodicals, and other social organizations by each respective group.2

While this system kept the Dutch population ideologically separated to a greater degree than in many other Western countries, it also facilitated a "politics of accommodation" where leaders of these pillars worked together, allowing public life to run smoothly. By the late 20th century, the system began to disintegrate as society became more secularized, though many of these institutions remain central to Dutch public service today.312