Jordan Times
Sunday, August 29, 2004
King spurs students to achieve
AMMAN (JT) — His Majesty King Abdullah said all educational efforts have been directed “to stimulate the innovative potential in schoolchildren and prepare them for their future roles in the country's advancement.
In a letter to be read to 1.5 million students on
the first day of the 2004-2005 scholastic year today, King Abdullah said these
young people are the centre of his attention as the builders of tomorrow and
through whom “we will realise our vision for the future of Jordan.”
The King said the state has for the past years done much to facilitate a smooth
education process, referring to new modern systems introduced this year.
“We endeavoured with utmost dedication to prepare a suitable climate for the
education process through empowering teachers, developing curricula, educational
activities and the preschool stage, and building modern schools equipped with
learning media, IT facilities and new technologies,” the Monarch added.
The King said he directed the Ministry of Education to “develop a new mechanism
for the General School Certificate Examination to ensure that such an
evolutionary tool maintains its [good] reputation at the regional and
international levels.”
In addition, such new national certification system should facilitate students'
excellence and innovation in a healthy climate of encouragement.
“I have also directed the minister of education to reshape the secondary school
stage in line with contemporary standards that ensure students' multiple choices
to help them join the labour market or continue their higher education studies,”
King Abdullah said.
Minister of Education Khalid Touqan said in statements to the press over the
weekend that the secondary stage (1st secondary and Tawjihi) will be divided
into four semesters, and each will be dealt with as a unit in terms of exams and
results.
A credit-hour system will be applied instead of the existing system, which
adopts the number of classes studied over the year as its basis.
In the first semester, students will study general basic courses in each branch
(literary, scientific, Sharia, information management, agricultural, industrial
and nursing). All these basic subjects will not be part of the General School
Certificate Examination, or Tawjihi.
The subjects students take in the second semester will not be included either.
According to the new system, only subjects taught at the third and fourth levels
will be involved in the general exam, i.e., students will be tested in this
unified exam on the subjects they study in the first and second semesters of
their final year at high school. During this final year, students will sit for
two sessions of the “Tawjihi” test: Winter and summer.