Tawjihi Results

Amman, Jordan

There are fireworks going off all over town this evening. Today was the announcement of Tawjihi scores. Tawjihi is the exam that all students take at the end of the 12th grade here in Jordan, like the A-levels in the British system. You must pass your Tawjihi in every subject (English, Arabic, History, Math, Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Geography, IT, Home Ec/Tech Ed, Religion) in order to be considered a high school graduate, and your scores in different subjects determine what subjects you are permitted to study in University. In other words, your whole future depends on your Tawjihi scores, so today was a big day.

Of course, I called the village, because I knew that Ghadeer Nasri, Alia Muhammad, Mahmoud Radhwan, Reem Nasr, Amal and other students whom I helped after school with English and other homework were all on pins and needles awaiting their exam scores. But things were not as I had hoped. Mahmoud, who is far from the academic sort, passed all his subjects on the Tawjihi, while all the girls, at least in the al-faiHa' neighborhood, except for Amal failed in Math and Chemistry. (If I'm not mistaken, some of Mshairfeh's teachers are going to lose their jobs this week!) So it's not the celebratory day I was anticipating.

Also, my thoughts are with Wesley and Mom this week.