JERUSALEM, May 28, 2016 (WAFA) – Premier Rami Hamdallah Saturday visited a school in Beit Ijza village, northwest of Jerusalem, as approximately 79,000 Palestinian students took the first session of their high school exams across the West Bank and Gaza.
Hamdallah visited Al- ‘Umawiyah Girls High School as approximately 79,000 students sat for the first session of high school exams, seeking to obtain the General Secondary Certificate (Tawjihi) across the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
He said his visit was dedicated to the memory of 17-year-old Sawsan Mansour, who was killed by Israeli forces after she allegedly attempted to stab an Israeli soldier at the Ras Biddu military checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, on Monday.
Mansour was a student enrolled in Al-‘Umawiyah Girls High School. She was expected to start her high school exams on Saturday.
Hamdallah added his visit signals a message of solidarity with education in Jerusalem and surrounding suburbs, which form “the essence of the Palestinian state”.
He noted that many Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention centers also sat for the high school exams. He also noted that 34 Palestinian students in Qatar and 46 others in Romania also sat for the exams for the first time.
Hamdallah was a flanked by Governor of Jerusalem and Minister of Jerusalem Affairs Adnan al-Husseini, Education Minister Sabri Saidam and a host of security officials and Education Ministry employees.
Assistant Deputy for Education Affairs at the Ministry of Education Jihaad Zakarneh announced that in their first session, 78,523 students would take the Islamic education exam. Exams will run to Wednesday, June 15 to cover all subjects.
He highlighted that of the total number of registered exam takers, 45,264 are in the West Bank and 33,273 are in the Gaza Strip.
He also highlighted that a total of 17,185 students are registered in the scientific stream, 53,816 others in the humanities stream, 3,417 are in the commerce stream, 2,762 others in the Sharia stream and 1,343 others are in the vocational stream.
It is worth noting that high school exams have always been run in full coordination between the West Bank and Gaza, even during the years of inter-Palestinian rivalry.
The Tawjihi certificate is equivalent to a high school completion certificate, and is a prerequisite for students who wish to pursue undergraduate studies. In Palestine and other Arab countries, the score on the test determines which programs a student can enroll into.
K.F.
