The number of school pupils ending up court for persistent truancy has dropped sharply, the AD reported on Tuesday.

In 2017, the Dutch courts dealt with 3,200 truancy-related cases, but this year the figures are well down and likely to hit no more than 2,600 by the end of December, the paper said.

The change in approach is due to the realisation that truancy is often better dealt with by offering other help rather than fines and community service sentences, the AD said.

Truancy is often a signal that other things are wrong, Carry Roozemond, of the truancy officers association Ingrado told the paper. ‘It is better to show youngsters why it is important to go to school rather than to take them to court,’ she said.

Meanwhile, new figures from the national statistics agency CBS show that one in 12 teenagers consider that they have psychiatric problems, a slight rise on the figure 10 years ago.

The youngsters were asked five questions, including ‘have you felt very anxious?’ to ‘have you been so low that nothing cheers you up?’. They could pick from six answers ranging from ‘never’ to ‘all the time’

Of the youngsters classified as having psychiatric issues by the survey, one third were suffering from depression, the CBS said.