The Tawjihi is the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination in Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, the equivalent of Israel’s Bagrut exams, and the US College SATs. Every year, immediately after the publication of the matriculation grades of the PA students, many of them go out to celebrate, which, because they’re Arabs, involves lots of gunfire and fireworks into the night. It promotes education, apparently.
This year, the rowdy celebrations will take place on Shabbat, the day when the results are handed out, and the Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria have already been warned to expect gunfire the whole day and not to worry, the Arabs are happy, not angry (Gush Etzion Warns of Impending Massive Arab Bagrut Shootings Over Shabbat).
This year, six of the graduating students who expect to receive their grades from the PA are members of the Samaritan community who observe Shabbat. They complained that they would not be able to receive their grades on Shabbat like everyone else, so the heads of their community, which is located on top of Mount Gerizim, overlooking Shechem, contacted Ramallah to protest the desecration of Shabbat this would cause.
What do you know, in response, the Palestinian Authority decided to honor the Samaritans’ demand and respect their Shabbat and issued an exception according to which the six Shabbat observing students will receive their grades on Friday afternoon.
Now, if those six guys get excited and start shooting on Shabbat eve, it won’t be the PA’s fault.
We Wikied the Tawjihi––so you won’t have to––and found that to qualify students are required to finish 2 years of pre-school education, 10 years of basic education, and 2 years of secondary academic or vocational education. Subjects in the exam include Arabic, English, Mathematics, Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Geology, Civil Studies, and Islamic or Christian studies, according to their faith.
Only those who pass the exam with a good mark may apply to PA or Jordanian universities. We understand the minimum score is 85 out of 100.
The Tawjihi is not recognized by Israeli universities, which demand that students pass the Bagrut.
H/T BeHadrei Haredim
