AMMAN — Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour on Saturday stressed that precautions taken during the Tawjihi winter session have “restored the prestige of the national exam”.
In a letter sent to the ministers of education and interior on Saturday, the premier noted that the measures succeeded in improving confidence in the General Secondary Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) as a criterion for equality and justice among students that reflects their true abilities without interference.
“These measures have put an end to violations and breaches witnessed in previous years, which had harmed the reputation of the exam and raised doubts on its credibility and integrity,” Ensour said.
The cooperation between public, private and security institutions was manifest in the winter session, he added.
The premier also thanked all stakeholders, students and parents for placing public interest above everything, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.
Students’ Tawjihi grades decide their future in higher education. It is the main criterion to determine which specialty they can major in, which public university they can enrol at and whether they are qualified to go to university.
Around 170,969 students registered for the winter session, including 89,286 boys and 81,683 girls, of whom 106,684 are regular students, according to the Education Ministry.
In previous remarks, Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat said the integrity rate in the Tawjihi winter session, which concluded last Tuesday, stood between 85 and 90 per cent and that the exams were held with a “very high” level of discipline.
He added that around 24,000 registered students did not sit for the winter session exam, during which some 6,000 violations were recorded.
In order to avoid a repeat of the “flagrant” violations witnessed in previous sessions, the ministry took strict measures this year, such as appointing 24,000 monitors and installing special devices to jam mobile reception, thus foiling attempts to cheat through cellular phones.
These procedures cost the government around JD26 million.
