The Minister of Education and Higher Education in the caretaker government, Abbas Halabi, distributed the text of the draft decree concerning official examinations, which was approved by the Council of Ministers today as received from the ministry he oversees, following an opinion expressed by the Council of State regarding it. The minister pointed out that the implementation of this decree will follow its issuance and publication in the official gazette, and the purpose of disseminating it to the media is to provide all concerned parties the opportunity to review it and understand its provisions.
The draft text reads as follows: "Special provisions regarding the nomination of students for official examinations in 2024, and regarding the type of these examinations for students who did not attend in-person classes due to security circumstances in the geographic area where their registered schools are located, and replacing the official examination for the Intermediate Certificate in 2024 with a unified examination with standardized questions prepared by the General Directorate of Education, which will be conducted in cooperation with both public and private schools for their ninth-grade students."
According to the constitution, particularly article 62, and based on Decree No. 10227 dated 5/8/1997 concerning the specification of curricula for pre-university general education and its goals, and Decree No. 5697 dated 15/6/2001 regarding the regulation of official examinations for the Intermediate and Secondary Certificates according to the new curricula, and subsequent amendments, along with advice from the Minister of Education and Higher Education and after consulting the Council of State (Opinion No. 105 / 2023 - 2024 dated 28 / 3 / 2024) and with the approval of the Council of Ministers in its session held on / / 2024; it dictates the following:
**Article One:** Public and private schools nominate all students in the third secondary grade registered justifiably in each of them for the official examinations for the Secondary Certificate in its four branches, as well as nominate ninth-grade students whose registration in this grade is justified for the unified examination mentioned in Article Two of this decree, according to the procedures adopted for nomination in previous years by the General Directorate of Education, and based on the specified official documents required for accepting such nominations within the timeframes announced by the Director General of Education for this purpose.
Contrary to any other text, if necessary, the latest available version of the individual registration statement for the candidate mentioned in the above paragraph, as well as for the candidate mentioned in Article 15 of this decree, shall be accepted, provided that the validity of this statement and the information contained in it are verified through official confirmation by the relevant civil registry office or by being stamped and signed by the authorized mayor if the confirmation from this competent department is not possible.
School principals from schools that did not conduct in-person classes during the current academic year due to security conditions prevailing in their geographic area will nominate students from both the third secondary and ninth grade registered justifiably in each of them for the academic year 2023-2024 based on data and documents preserved in each student's school profile who was unable to present the required documents for his nomination. In this case, such nomination does not confer any rights of any kind if it is established that any of the documents relied upon in the student's profile is flawed, preventing its acceptance. The right is deemed non-existent by a decision made by the Minister of Education and Higher Education based on a duly justified proposal by the General Director of Education.
**Article Two:** For the year 2024, the official examinations for the Intermediate Certificate will be replaced by a unified exam with standardized questions for ninth-grade students, prepared by the General Directorate of Education, and schools will implement it under the supervision of this Directorate for their Lebanese curriculum students both within Lebanon and abroad. Preparation and conducting of this examination will adhere to the provisions of subsequent articles in this decree.
**Article Three:** The right to nominate for the unified exam mentioned in the previous article will be granted, in addition to students registered justifiably in the ninth grade at any public or private school, to any other student who cannot justify their registration in this grade for one of the following three reasons:
1. A pending dispute before an educational arbitration council, or before any judicial authority, between the student's guardian and the private school they transferred from to another school, whether public or private, without obtaining a school certificate showing the last grade completed successfully; whether this transfer occurred at the start of the current academic year (2023-2024) or in any previous academic year.
2. The student is registered in a grade lower than the ninth grade without meeting any of the conditions required for admission to this lower grade, and two or more academic years have passed since that registration; during which this student continued their studies continuously, and there were no consequences from lacking all the conditions for their registration that prevented them from continuing their studies throughout the period they were engaged in academic learning.
3. The non-Lebanese student who successfully completed two academic years in Lebanon does not possess the essential documents required for nomination or for legal residence in Lebanon; and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education will prepare a list of names of those nominated without presenting this residence at the end of the nomination period, including the information available about each of them, which will be submitted to the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities - General Directorate of General Security as the relevant administration regarding these residency issues.
**Article Four:** The provisions of Article Three above shall apply to the nomination of third secondary students for the official examinations for the Secondary Certificate in its four branches.
**Article Five:** The Examinations Department in the General Directorate of Education will issue a nomination card for the above-mentioned unified examination in the current year for those students justified registered in the ninth grade or whose admission to it is deemed justified according to the provisions of Article Three of this decree, based on the lists of nominee names submitted by the public and private schools to the educational areas, verified by the specialized employees there under the supervision and responsibility of their heads, which is also subject to review by the Examinations Department to issue the nomination card.
**Article Six:** In addition to their final school examinations, students registered in the ninth grade in the current academic year will undergo the aforementioned unified examination. The schools that nominated them must conduct it under the supervision of their educational staff at their personal functional and ethical responsibility, and under the authority of the directors of these schools who are also responsible for ensuring its conduct and maintaining discipline in it. The supervisory tasks in this examination, as well as the correction of its materials and the announcement of results, are deemed functional duties for those required to perform these tasks. Hence, no financial compensation shall arise from performing these duties.
**Article Seven:** Schools will conduct the unified examination for each specified subject. The specialized sub-committee for each subject will set the examination questions tailored to students with special needs, and this committee will establish the criteria for correcting the papers for each subject in this examination and will distribute these criteria to the relevant educational staff before their commencement.
**Article Eight:** Each subject's sub-committee will select questions from the lessons specified by the Educational Center for Research and Development for this selection.
**Article Nine:** The Ministry of Education and Higher Education is authorized to determine for students from schools that did not conduct in-person classes during the current academic year due to security conditions under which they pursued their studies, the type of official or unified examination they must undergo, and the subjects and contents it will include, as well as the format in which it should be conducted.
**Article Ten:** The General Directorate of Education will ensure the electronic transmission of the prepared questions for each subject of the unified examination and the criteria for correcting its papers to all public and private schools where this examination takes place, adopting all security, protection, and reliability measures for this transmission, following confirmation from educational regions under this General Directorate regarding the capability to receive this transmission at these schools, as well as the availability to print these questions and these criteria, and ensuring both capabilities are appropriately handled should there be any obstacles.
**Article Eleven:** The end of May 2024 is set as the deadline for all public and private schools to complete their final school examinations for their ninth-grade students that must be conducted within this month. After conducting these examinations, they must, before subjecting students to the unified examination, calculate the general average for each student and input their grades and the averages from their quarterly assessments into the electronic system utilized by the General Directorate of Education for student registration.
**Article Twelve:** Each educational region will monitor the conduct of the unified examination in the public and private schools within its jurisdiction, and the head of the examining committees can assign someone deemed appropriate to carry out inspection visits to these schools during this examination. The educational inspection will supervise the orderly conduct of the unified examination stipulated in this decree.
**Article Thirteen:** The final average for the student is calculated by adding 65% of their overall school average to 35% of their overall average in the unified examination, and they will be considered successful if they achieve a final total as defined by Article Ten of Decree No. 5697 dated 15/06/2001.
**Article Fourteen:** The Official Examinations Department will issue certificates of success or failure or non-participation in the unified examination based on the final results of the students according to standardized models for each of these three certificates, issued by the General Directorate of Education and signed by the Head of the Examinations Department or one authorized by them from the directly affiliated employees. The certificate of success grants the holder the same rights as those enjoyed by the holder of the Intermediate Certificate in all its types and forms as defined in the applicable regulations.
**Article Fifteen:** All individuals who have turned 18 by 1/1/2024 or before and are not registered in the ninth grade at any public or private school, as well as candidates from any previous years for the official examinations for the Intermediate Certificate regardless of their ages, have the right to apply for a special free-request session for the year 2024 conducted according to prevailing regulations for organizing official examinations.
**Article Sixteen:** The educational staff who make up the sub-committees for each subject of the unified examination, and the employees in the educational districts and central departments of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education who will carry out the necessary administrative tasks in preparation for and conducting this examination are entitled to the compensations provided for by the effective decision specifying them.
**Article Seventeen:** The details necessary for the application of this decree will be defined as necessary by decisions issued by the Minister of Education and Higher Education based on proposals from the General Director of Education.
**Article Eighteen:** This decree will be published in the official gazette and will take effect from the date of publication."
