Zaatari student scores record 97.6 in Tawjihi

ZAATARI CAMP— The young Syrian refugee Dalal Azzah, recently defied all odds at Jordan’s Zaatari refugee camp, and achieved the most outstanding Tawjhi, (general secondary education certificate examination) marks at the camp since its opening in 2012. 

The Syrian student achieved 97.6 per cent in the exams, topping the list of all Tawjihi students in three educational directorates across the Kingdom.  

Azzah arrived in the camp five years ago, but she said displacement was not a challenge for her to pursue her studies in Jordan.  

“I wanted to pay great attention to education, at the expense of being married early,” she noted, highlighting that she faced a number of hardships on her way to clinching this high mark, including hard winter and summer conditions in addition to the lack of electricity in the camp. 

Awad Shiekh, educational officer at UNHCR, said Azzah overcame all the challenges she encountered to be able to achieve this outstanding mark.  

“She also exceeded [her peers] in the education directorates of Mafraq, as well as the west northern Badia and eastern Badia as she was ranked first in these three directorates,” he remarked, noting that a total of 160 students passed the exams at the camp this year.

 Azzah expressed hope to continue her education by studying English language at the university.  

However, Shiekh said that the very limited number of donations this year might narrow down her chances. 

“We are working our best with donors to make sure students are able to continue their studies and we work with them to support the students. But this year, the number of donations is very scarce and this is a challenge because there are many students who passed the exams with high marks this year,” he added. 

The officer warned that, if this year’s students were not able to continue their studies, this might also have a negative effect on the psychological state of the current students.