JEDDAH, 4 March 2008 — High school seniors will no longer have the same fear of the end-of-year exams coming from the Ministry of Education.

The ministry announced yesterday that public and private boys and girls’ schools starting this academic year would prepare their own final exams.

According to Abdulaziz Al-Jarallah, director of media at the Ministry of Education, education officials would still engage in “regular monitoring throughout the year.”

The ministry will provide schools with a criteria chart that they have to follow in order to help assure that the exams at each school will have the same level of standard. The criteria includes determining the aims of the exams, the number and type of questions, according to Fahd Al-Muhaize, general director of the examination and acceptance at the ministry.

“Previously, schools used to control 70 percent of the students’ evaluation and only 30 percent depends on the ministry’s unified exams,” he said.

Now that the high school senior GPA combines results of the 11th and 12th grades, examinations of the final semester make only 15 percent of the total evaluation.

“Exams of all schools will be monitored by the ministry after the end of the year. Punishments will apply on those who do not follow the set criteria,” Al-Muhaize said.