
Photo from high school exam celebrations last year
Smuggling arms across the Jordanian-Syrian border reversed in direction this time of the year as the date for high school exam results approached – which, in turn, resulted in the largest deployment mission for Jordanian Armed Forces in the kingdom since 1970.
The Armed Forces declared that they “expect more than 100,000 bullets to be shot and thousands of mortar rounds to fall on various areas in the kingdom in the upcoming couple of hours”. A number of security apparatuses are preparing emergency response plans to the collective hysteria that will surely paralyze almost 80% of the capital’s streets. “Needless to say, our brave soldiers’ preparation stems from a sense of duty to protect the safety and security of our country, which seem to be the last assets we can hold on to in such troubled times” said an official.
It bears noting that Jordanian high school exams do not measure students’ IQ, education or deductive abilities, since the Jordanian educational system doesn’t necessarily intend to improve any of these qualities. Jordanian high school Exams, instead, have been designed solely to measure students’ abilities to memorize and repeat ad infinitum what they have been spoon-fed in their classes. The latter qualities are considered more important and relevant to the making of the Jordanian workforce and the Jordanian citizen in general. Students with a flair for the practical usually resort to bribes and corruption to leak exam questions, which in turn gives them a glimpse into the working of the market early on in their education.
Some experts note that the likenesses between violence generated by exam results and the Syrian conflict are not all that surprising – especially since high school exams are the main determining factor in selecting the university at which the student will spend their own armed armed struggle in the years to come after.
Link to Arabic article