Fewer children passed their school leaving exams this year, with the failure rate topping 10% for the first time since 2007, according to new government figures quoted in Wednesday’s Volkskrant.

In total, 89.4% of teenagers passed their school leaving certificates in what was the first year since the coronavirus pandemic without special measures, the paper said.

The biggest reduction in performance is among pupils in the pre-college Havo stream, where the pass rate fell from 88% in 2019 to 84% this year. In the pre-university and pre-vocational streams, the pass rate fell by around two percentage points.

There was also a slight increase in the overall number of teenagers dropping out before taking their exams, the Volkskrant said.