New record number of complaints from Dutch secondary students during final exams

The complaints hotline of the State Association for Students (LAKS) has so far received a record number of complaints about the final exams. On Friday, the counter stood at 293,500. That is 7,800 more than the 285,700 reports made last year.

According to a LAKS spokesperson, many candidates feel unprepared and struggle with backlogs. This includes the period after the coronavirus pandemic when students could not attend school, the spokesperson said. Teacher shortages also play a role. This means that backlogs cannot always be made up.

The complaints this Friday were mainly related to geography exams for HAVO (senior general secondary education) and French for VWO (university preparatory education), the spokesperson explained. Particular complaints concerned distractions caused by a passing ice cream vendor and noisy toddlers in the gym next to the exam hall.

Tuesday is the last day of the first period of final exams. Then subjects like Frisian, Russian, and Arabic are still on the agenda.

The second period will follow in June. This is intended for resits and catch-up exams.