Khaberni - Special
Students in the Governorate of Irbid expressed their anger due to an administrative error that led to the arrival of only 6 supplementary exam papers for the subject of Plant Production (Sheet 2) instead of 36 for the general secondary exam (Tawjihi) they were taking.
The student Osman Al-Ziyadneh told the "Khaberni" website on Sunday, that after the shortage of papers, the officials in the room contacted the Director of Education and officials in the Directorate of Education, and it was agreed to photocopy 30 exam papers, each of which would be split into 4 sheets, meaning a total of 120 individual sheets, adding that the photocopying process took 25 minutes from the start of the incident until copying.
Al-Ziyadneh continued that the major problem for them was that the copied versions were not clear enough, in addition to the random stapling of the exam papers which led to repeated papers for the same student, which affected their performance. Moreover, the answer clarity was poor, and the quality of the photocopies was bad, all of which affected their answers. No compensation in time was given to the students, only 7 minutes were added.
The Ministry of Education responded to Khaberni's inquiries about the incident, stating through its media spokesman Mahmoud Hayyasat: Regarding the observation from a high school student in the Agricultural branch from the Mu'adh bin Jabal Examination Center in Irbid Castle, which pointed to a shortage in the Plant Production exam papers, the Ministry of Education would like to clarify the following:
In every exam session, tens of thousands of question envelopes are dealt with, and a shortage in the number of papers in one of the envelopes is a possible, albeit rare, occurrence, which may result from a packaging weigh error, or due to moving students to the room, or registering students for the subject after question envelopes had already been prepared.
As a precautionary measure, the ministry provides photocopying facilities in every examination center, and ensures their readiness in advance. They are used by the supervisory committee at the examination center to copy additional papers in case of any shortage, ensuring the continuity of the exam session without impairing the students’ rights.
Referring to the observation, the tripartite committee supervising the exam center immediately photocopied the missing papers and distributed them to the students, as well as compensated them for the full lost time, which amounted to 8 minutes and was added to the already allocated 10 minutes for distributing question papers, making a total of 18 additional minutes, added to the original time of one and a half hours of the exam.
The procedure's correctness was confirmed by the staff working at the examination center, as well as by the regulatory authorities supervising the center, including the quality officer and representative of the ministry.
On another note, the Department of Examinations and Assessments at the ministry center formed a specialized committee to review the question papers and the scantron sheets of students in the Agricultural branch in the mentioned hall to ensure the integrity of the exam papers, which revealed that all copied question papers were clear, high quality, and free from any deficiencies or distortions, confirming that all students answered all questions and fully transferred their answers onto the scantron sheets.
The Ministry of Education affirms that the student is at the core of the educational process, and that all its resources and capabilities are dedicated to providing a suitable educational and examination environment, ensuring their fair compensation for any sudden malfunctions that might occur during the exams, and emphasizing that all measures taken in this case were in accordance with approved instructions, ensuring justice and equal opportunities for all exam candidates.
