ABHA, 12 June 2007 — Final exams in English and math were given out yesterday in many high schools across the Kingdom.

Meanwhile, a group of high school teachers in the southern Asir region of Saudi Arabia are complaining that the final exam for English was far beyond the level of the students and that the exams, which are universal and provided by the Ministry of Education, doesn’t take into consideration the differences of curriculum from one school to the next.

One teacher who didn’t want her name to be mentioned in this report said that the exams seem to be made more to evaluate the teachers. “If scores are weak, the tests show that the teacher has failed to do her job,” she said. “The victims, however, are the students.”

The teacher complained that the final exams don’t match the curriculums of individual high schools because the curriculums are formed locally but the final exams are standard and the questions are provided from the ministry. This, she said, will adversely affect the students when they move on to higher education and eventually into the job market.

Samira, a high school physics teacher who only wanted her first name published, said she suspects the ministry isn’t using any proven testing models when formulating these standardized exams. She said some of the questions on the math test seemed more appropriate for a teacher with 10 years experience.

“These questions weren’t written for 18-year-olds with eight or nine months of learning behind them,” she said. “Especially if some of these students are getting sub-standard teachers. The ministry is unfair with these exams.”

A high school English teacher who didn’t want to be named said the problem of unqualified teachers is endemic and that the ministry has not addressed this issue, while at the same time distributing standardized exams with lofty expectations. She said the ministry should recruit more qualified native English speakers to teach at primary and secondary levels.

While students anywhere in the world might naturally complain about final exams, it appeared that unusually high numbers of students at a girls’ high school in Abha yesterday were upset after taking the three-hour standardized final exam in English.

Student Muneera Al-Shahrani told Arab News that many of the questions on the exam weren’t addressed in her course.

“I hope Allah punishes whoever wrote the questions to that test,” she said.

Fellow student Rima Yusr was seen in tears after her final exam.