150,000 primary school pupils take test

Over 150,000 primary school pupils on Tuesday begin three days of tests which will largely determine the type of secondary school they go to.


Around 85% of the country’s primary schools use the Cito test, devised by a private institute, to check pupils’ spelling and arithmetic.
Critics of the system say the tests put undue stress on children because most schools use the results as an entrance exam. Dutch secondary school pupils are usually streamed from the age of 12 and it is difficult to switch between different levels of education.

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