Flags and backpacks are flying for graduating high school students

Backpacks are appearing on flagpoles across the Netherlands as thousands of high school students receive their final exam results. Many students were told on Thursday whether they had passed their final exams and could graduate, although students in the VMBO framework will not receive their results until next Wednesday.

In total, more than 188,000 students took part this year. There were 92,000 in VMBO, almost 55,000 in HAVO and almost 41,000 in VWO schools. The number of students who passed nationally will be announced in the autumn.

The second period of the final exams starts next Monday. This is intended for students who have not taken all their exams in the first period or who will retake an exam.

The Landelijk Aktie Komitee Scholieren (LAKS) received a record number of 285,700 complaints about the final exams this year. Many of them were about texts that were too long and complicated, as well as the use of overly difficult words. There were also many complaints about assignments that did not match the material covered in the lessons.