Backpack on the flagpole: 180,000 students find out if they graduated high school today

Around 180,000 secondary school students will find out today whether they have passed their final exams and can put their backpacks on the flag pole - the Dutch way of announcing that they’re graduating from secondary education.

The final exams ended on May 26, and the results will come in today. Secondary school students across the country will hear from their teacher or mentor whether they passed.

Those who didn’t pass will have the opportunity to retake one subject from June 17. In the worst case, they’ll have to repeat the final year.

This year, LAKS, the national association for school pupils, received a total of 239,000 complaints about the final exams. That is significantly less than last year’s 372,000 complaints. Last year’s pass rate was 91 percent.