Tawjihi time

It never fails!

Every time the results of the Tawjihi exams are about to be announced, tension rises among students and parents alike in anticipation of the decisive grades at the completion of secondary education.

This time, when the winter Tawjihi results for this scholastic year were announced, it was no different.

The country had its fair share of students rushed to hospitals to deal with high anxiety, which often drives them to take calming medication.

It so happens that the outcome of these tests make or break the future of students; hence the extreme anxiety and tension associated with the event.

The country has been debating the merits and demerits of this exam whose aim is to sift graduates for further studies.

The consensus emerging among educators and academics is that this exam that determines who is eligible to enter university should be replaced, following the example of other nations.

Alongside the threats to health and even to life often associated with Tawjihi results, there are also the typical manifestations of those who pass.

Most often, these young people and their families drive around in the streets in a manner that is dangerous to them and disturbs public order.

Equally often, unfortunately, the reviled by many and officially forbidden “festive fire” can be heard in neighbourhoods, disturbing the quiet or threatening lives.

While one understands that tests are the only way to “measure” a student’s preparedness and that changing the existing testing system could take quite some time, one fails to see why the accompanying manifestations — reckless driving and shooting — clearly contravening the law, cannot be put an end to.

All it takes is firmer monitoring and more serious penalties to offenders.