Nayrouz News Agency : A total of 78 regular students scored 100 per cent in the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) with an overall pass rate of 55.6 per cent, Education Minister Tayseer Nueimi announced on Saturday.

The grouping of top achievers constitutes 71 students from the scientific stream and seven from the literary stream, the minister said during a press conference. 

Announcing the results, the minister noted that the unprecedented circumstances during the past scholastic year must be taken into consideration, notably teachers’ strikes and the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, according to the Jordan News Agency, Petra.      

Achieving high scores has become a global phenomenon this year, the minister said.

Nueimi attributed the spike in high scores this year to the nature of objective questions, crediting students’ efforts along with parents’ follow-up. 

He also noted that academic branches secured 58.3 per cent pass rate while the vocational stream witnessed 50.2 per cent pass rate.

Among the 178,270 students registered, a total of 170,774 sat for the examination, of which 96,568 have passed.  

Regarding private-study students, the minister said that a total of 73,310 students were registered, while 57,087 took the exams of which 31,739 have passed. 

The ministry will hold a session for students who failed to sit for exams after conducting a poll among students regarding the timing, he added.   

The education minister noted that the ministry would create a bank for objective questions in light of the ministry’s plans to computerise tests in future. 

Meanwhile, the Unified Admissions Committee will begin receiving applications to public universities on Tuesday, August 18, through Tuesday, August 25, the Ministry of Higher Education announced on Saturday. 

Students with an average score of 65 per cent and above in the Tawjihi are entitled to apply to public universities via www.admhec.gov.jo, Petra reported.

Students who hold foreign high school certificates are also eligible to apply for public universities, Petra added citing a ministry statement.