On Saturday morning, about 50,000 students, both male and female, headed to the exam halls for the final year of secondary school (tawjihi) in the West Bank governorates and Palestinian schools abroad, while the devastating Israeli war deprived the Gaza Strip’s 39,000 students from taking the exams.
The tests in Islamic education began at exactly nine o’clock in the morning local time (06:00 GMT), and will continue for 18 days, according to Anadolu’s correspondent.
According to what was announced by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, 50,97 students from schools in the West Bank and abroad are participating in the tests.
These include 216 students from the five Palestinian schools outside the country located in Turkey, Qatar, Romania, Bulgaria and Russia, in addition to 1,119 students from Gaza who left the Gaza Strip outside the country, and they are distributed among 29 countries.
Egypt hosts the majority of Gaza students registered for high school exams, with their number reaching 1,090.
In addition to students abroad, spokesman for the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Sadiq Al-Khadour, said in press statements last Thursday that the Israeli war deprived about 39,000 male and female students in Gaza from taking the high school exams.
Al-Khadour explained that 450 high school students in Palestine were killed this year as a result of the devastating war, including 20 students from the West Bank.
He pointed out that his ministry opened a huge hall for taking the tests in Egypt, in addition to other halls in Turkey, Qatar and Russia, while the tests will be held in the embassies of the rest of the countries.
With the outbreak of the devastating war on Gaza on October 7, studies were suspended in schools and universities in the Strip, in order to preserve the lives of students in light of the violent and intense Israeli bombing.
As of June 17, the Israeli war has completely destroyed 110 schools and universities, and 321 schools and universities partially, while claiming the lives of more than 10,000 male and female students, according to the government media office in Gaza.
The final year of secondary school is considered a turning point in a student’s life, as his university future and specialization are determined based on it. Therefore, families and students care greatly about it and prepare for it well.
