After Tawjihi

This summer’s General Secondary Education Certificate Examination’s (Tawjihi) results confirmed two remarkable achievements. First, public schools are no longer viewed as the underdog in the educational system with seven out of the top 10 scorers having graduated from state-run schools. 

This is truly noteworthy as a living testimony to the fact that private schooling no longer enjoys a monopoly over quality education in the country. 

This summer’s strong showing by public schools in the Tawjihi was actually not a fluke, but the continuation of a consistent phenomenon over the past several years. 

This suggests that education at government-run schools is getting better and has become competitive with high-cost private schools. 

No less remarkable in the latest Tawjihi exams are the high scores by female students, with seven girls among the top 10 scorers. 

The strong showing by female students has become a staple of Tawjihi results every year. 

Many of these young women will go on to become excelling students at universities, but only few will end up joining the labour market, with unemployment among women remaining an issue in the Kingdom.

Only 21.7 per cent of Jordanian females over 15 years old are economically active, according to the Sisterhood is Global Institute, compared with 69 per cent of Jordanian males in the same age category.  

Nearly 78.3 per cent of Jordanian women are not part of the labour force, a figure which includes students and housewives as well as those who are seeking employment, the institute said in a recent statement, citing figures from the 2015 national census.

While the Tawjihi results suggest some progress in the education system, more attention should be directed to what comes after the national exam.

Work is needed to change the social perceptions that value academic education over vocational training by highlighting the major opportunities that the latter offers and the potential for career development.

The government is also advised to work with universities to ensure that their output matches labour market needs.

While the highest scorers in Tawjihi can, for example, qualify to study engineering or medicine, that does not mean that they have no other options, especially since they might not be able to find jobs in these fields upon graduation.

Of course, these positive results would not eliminate the perennial question of whether the Tawjihi is still the most appropriate way to test students’ preparedness for higher education.

The jury is still out on this one.