Premier Visits Jerusalem School as 79,000 Students Take High School Exams in
West Bank, Gaza
Publish Date: 2016/05/28
http://english.wafa.ps/page.aspx?id=K4YfTSa36606323886aK4YfTS

JERUSALEM, May 28, 2016 (WAFA - PLO news agency) – 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.