As a young man who has successfully completed his secondary education, I think I can talk on behalf of many like myself. After passing the school certificate exam and getting 80 percent, many of us end up between the hammer and the anvil. We can’t go to university because we are a few marks short of what is needed. At the same time, we can’t find a job because employers require practical experience of at least three years as a condition.
We find ourselves at a loss, unable to make a next move. Our ambition does not stop at passing the school certificate exams; we dream of going to college to pursue our higher education. Now a few marks and the three-year practical experience stand in our way, thus preventing us from embarking on a career.
If we knew from the beginning that after completing our secondary education we would be confined to our homes to become a liability on our parents, we would not have wasted the 12 years getting an education.
Our future seems to have stopped at this point because no employer is interested in hiring someone with only a secondary school certificate.
I hope the education officials and those in charge of admission will seriously consider this problem and work to find a solution to our predicament.
They have three alternatives from which to choose: allow us to be enrolled in college; find us work with the secondary certificates; or leave us with no education or prospects.
Arab News From the Local Press 23 November 2002
