AMSTERDAM, 29/01/03 - Secondary school pupils consider the murder of Pim Fortuyn the most important event of 2002. They also rate the politician the most important person of the year.

After Fortuyn's murder last May, the schoolchildren were most impressed by the death of Prince Claus last October. The husband of Queen Beatrix was also ranked the third most important person of 2002, after Osama bin Laden.

The children also named the introduction of the euro, terrorist attacks and the phantom gunmen in Washington as important news items. The figures were presented yesterday by the Newspaper in the Class foundation, an organization of Dutch dailies which encourages newspaper-reading at school.