Gaza students were forced to study for their final exams under the harshest of circumstances, often without electricity and amid massive destruction.
87,817 students emerged from testing centers across Occupied Palestine, including 38,880 in Gaza alone. This is the Tawjihi final exam and stress, and anxiety are palpable everywhere.
Tawjihi are the final exams in the last year of high school; they serve as placement tests for universities. Those with overall high grades have greater opportunities in terms of choosing coveted majors in Palestinian universities, for example, medicine, engineering and law.
“The first day of testing began this morning,” Khaled Abu al-Nada, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education said, adding that “the environment was calm and peaceful.”
On May 9, Gaza experienced another devastating war that killed and wounded many. Thus, Gaza students were forced to study for their final exams under the harshest of circumstances, often without electricity and amid massive destruction.
But the faces here were intently focused on the exams themselves, no life outside the 232 halls prepared for this task across the Gaza Strip.
The number of teachers and educators involved in monitoring the process from the start till results are announced is equally impressive: nine thousand teachers and educators, according to the Ministry.
“The fact that the exams are being conducted in a unified manner all across Palestine, and in total coordination is an exceptional and important event,” the acting head of the Palestinian Parliament, Dr. Ahmed Bahr said at a press conference attended by the Palestine Chronicle.
“This reflects the spirit of unity and determination of our people that challenged the arrogance of the occupation and its ongoing aggression against the land, the people and the holy places,” he added.
Bahr dedicated these “great national achievements to the martyrs whose blood has watered the land of Palestine.”
The Palestine Chronicle traveled across several schools in Gaza to convey the significance of this day in Palestine and for a whole generation of young scholars.
(All Photos: Mahmoud Ajjour, The Palestine Chronicle)
