Maastricht vmbo students do not need to take the final exam again
The 354 victims of VMBO students from two schools in Maastricht do not have to retake their final exams. Education minister Arie Slob just announced this. Their scores will remain valid until January 1, 2019. This gives them the time to take the missing school exams and still get their diploma.
Picture: National government
In a letter Slob informs the House of Representatives that he is using his authority to leave the scores of the central final exams, which were taken throughout the Netherlands in April and May. The Inspectorate and the Board of Tests and Examinations have not discovered any shortcomings in these final exams. With this decision, Slob deviates from the examination rules, but according to the minister this is a unique situation. In addition, students should not be the victim of bad management of a school.
Invalid
Last Friday Slob announced that the final exams would be declared invalid. The pre-vocational secondary school students at the Porta Mosana and Sint Maartencollege schools should not really have been allowed to take their final exams, because very serious problems had been discovered during the school exams. Courses had not been completed or had been incorrectly completed and grades were missing.
The picture surrounding the school exams is serious
Slob therefore writes in his letter that the students are not there yet with this decision alone. "The picture surrounding the school exams is serious," says Slob. Thousands of keys have not been made. The students still have to work in the summer to make up for the missed material. "Unfortunately, they miss essential parts of the curriculum and have often fallen behind significantly," the letter states.
To catch up
With the decision to leave the grades of the final exam, students can still obtain their diploma. Some of the students can take the missing school exams in the summer and then start their further education. Another part of the students will need more time to make up for the major backlogs. Slob wants to ensure that they can already start their further education. There is also a group for whom the backlogs are so great that the year has to be repeated.
You can read the letter from Minister Arie Slob to the Lower House via this link.
