Close to 40 percent of teenagers in the Netherlands cannot read well enough to function in school or society, according to the latest results from the PISA international education assessment (a global study measuring the skills of 15-year-olds conducted by the OECD). The figure marks a sharp deterioration from earlier surveys — in 2018, one in four Dutch teens fell below the minimum literacy threshold, rising to nearly one in three by 2023, and now approaching two in five. The Dutch government's junior education minister, Judith Tielen, has pledged an action plan for this autumn, citing updated national curriculum goals introduced this school year, and warned that the country "cannot afford further decline" given the essential role literacy plays in everyday life, from reading medical instructions to distinguishing genuine news from misinformation.