The Minister of Education and Higher Education in the caretaker government, Abbas Halabi, along with the President of the Lebanese University, Professor Bassam Badran, inspected the progress of the official public examinations in its four branches at one of the accredited centers in the Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah Official Secondary School in Nabatiyeh. He was welcomed by Member of the "Development and Liberation" bloc, MP Nasser Jaber, the educational official in the "Amal" Movement in the South Governorate, Dr. Abbas Maghreb, representing MP Hani Qubaisi, Nabatiyeh Governor Dr. Houda Turk, Educational Inspector Faten Jumaa, the Head of the Educational Region in Nabatiyeh Governorate Akram Abu Shakra, the Head of the Education Department in Nabatiyeh Nashet Habhab, Director of Al-Sabbah Secondary School Dr. Abbas Shimisani, and other educational figures.
Halabi and the accompanying delegation toured the examination halls, met with monitors, and listened to students about the atmosphere of the questions and exams. Many students, most of whom are from schools in border areas, reported "difficulties they faced while preparing for the exams, especially the (online) subject, as many did not have internet access in the shelters or homes they moved to due to the Israeli assault on their towns and villages. Some students also complained about the difficulty of the Arabic subject."
After the tour, Halabi stated: "We came to Nabatiyeh to the Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah Official Secondary School, with the President of the Lebanese University and the Governor of Nabatiyeh and the educational figures in this region. There are several students in this center who are from the border strip who could only study through 'online' methods. I came to see the reality on the ground, which will benefit me greatly for what remains of these exams in two days, and we must take this issue into consideration."
He added: "I conducted the exams to ensure no one is wronged, as we cannot provide certificates until we ensure all students in Lebanon can obtain a university diploma. We will consider the opinions of educational figures on this issue, especially the Educational Research and Development Center, and there is a variance among students who studied online."
Halabi confirmed that "President Nabih Berri was the most insistent on conducting the official exams, so students can obtain certificates that qualify them for university admission," adding: "When we decided on optional questions, they were based on a study conducted by the Educational Research Office, which interviewed students from the border strip and the South, and met with school principals and teachers who informed him that while some schools managed to cover the curriculum, there are circumstances related to the students in this region that suffered from war, terror, and fear and lost martyrs. We took into account as much as possible, and the Ministry of Education was decisive in conducting unified official examinations for all students."
Halabi denied rumors about a leak of the chemistry subject, saying that "the chemistry committee found a mistake in the way the questions were phrased, and they will assess the changes made which caused some delays in certain centers, and we will not allow this to happen again tomorrow."
At the end of the tour, Halabi held a meeting in the office of the secondary school director, Abbas Shimisani, during which MP Jaber presented a project file for building a complex of official schools in the city of Nabatiyeh, which will include curricula from kindergartens to the general secondary level on the land adjacent to the Hassan Kamel Al-Sabbah Official Secondary School building, owned by the Ministry of Education and will be constructed at the expense of donor agencies.
