WILLEMSTAD – Thousands of secondary school students across Curaçao have officially entered exam season this week, marking the start of one of the most important academic periods of the year.
For many students, the examination period began with locally developed tests, including the Papiamentu language exam, which was first on the schedule for HAVO students.
According to several students, the opening exam proved to be a challenging start.
“The first text was pretty difficult, especially because it had many open-ended questions,” said 16-year-old Kira, a HAVO student at Albert Tasman College.
“The summary was easier, but you really have to pay attention to the word count. If you go over the limit, you lose points.”
The start of the exam period follows the official publication of the 2026 exam schedules by Expertisecentrum voor Toetsen & Examens Curaçao (ETE Curaçao), which has begun releasing daily exams and correction guidelines for this year’s testing cycle.
Unlike many people assume, not all exams taken by Curaçao students are created in the Netherlands.
Subjects such as Papiamentu, parts of Dutch, history and information technology are developed locally to better reflect the island’s social and cultural reality.
Teachers say that local adaptation is essential.
“If people in the Netherlands talk about neighboring countries, they mean Germany or Belgium. Here, it’s Venezuela. That changes the context completely,” explained biology teacher Cor Hameete.
At the same time, a large number of subjects—including many national exam components—are still prepared in the Netherlands and administered simultaneously throughout the Kingdom.
Because of the time difference, students in Curaçao often sit for those exams at adjusted times but under the same official schedule.
Students on the island are also often given slightly more time to complete Dutch-language exams, recognizing that Dutch is not the first language for many of them.
The exam period will continue for approximately three and a half weeks, with a few breaks in between, including around the Ascension Day holiday.
This year also marks an important change in Curaçao’s education system.
For the first time, the End Test for Foundation-Based Education (EFO), which traditionally took place during this period, has been abolished.
Instead, students in foundation-based education are now being evaluated based on their academic performance over multiple school years rather than a single final test.
Education officials say the change is intended to provide a broader and more balanced assessment of student performance.
For now, however, the focus remains on the exam halls, where students across Curaçao are facing the pressure, discipline and preparation that come with one of the most decisive weeks of their academic journey.