AMMAN — After three consecutive semesters of online
learning, Jordan’s class of 2021 are calling for in-person
graduation ceremonies — a decision the government has yet to approve.
اضافة اعلان
The Kingdom has boasted a strong epidemiological situation over
the past few weeks, with COVID-19 positivity rates consistently hovering below 5
percent and the vaccination campaign steadily progressing. Despite this, and
the reopening of many sectors, the government has still restricted university
graduation ceremonies up until now.
Saleen Ghanimeh, a 25-year-old student, completed her
bachelor’s degree in marketing this semester from Al-Ahliyya Amman University.
Ghanimeh said she is glad that she finally finished her studies and can now focus
on her business and her career life.
“I feel relieved, because now I can focus on the business
that I’m working on, and I can get all the benefits from my studies,” the
graduate told
Jordan News in an interview over the phone.
Ghanimeh is trying to make the most of her ceremony-less
graduation. “Actually the university took from me a lot of time so it would
have meant a lot if I would be able to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter
in my life,” she said. “But I am planning on doing parties with my family and
friends, so I can still celebrate.”
Likewise, her mother Salam Khoury is happy for her daughter,
but her happiness is limited because she wanted to witness her daughter walking
on the stage with her diploma.
“I do feel bad a little since I might not be able to see her
walking through the stage to get her certificate,” Khoury told
Jordan News.
“It hurts because I watched every single one she got earlier, and that’s the
last one.”
Finishing is enough
The cancelation of the graduation ceremony did not bother
all students. “To be honest I am happy that there is no graduation ceremony
because I can’t imagine myself wearing a suit and standing under the sun in
this hot weather,” Tarek Haddad, a 24-year-old medical student, said in an
interview with
Jordan News.
“However my parents wanted to see me receiving my
certificate at the ceremony, but they understand the current situation of the
pandemic,” Haddad added.
“The excitement of finishing my six years of study is enough
for me,” he said. “I don’t even want to do a graduation party myself because I
don’t feel like I need to, I am excited to start my career.”
“The situation just got recently better, where the
preparations for a graduation ceremony needs time, and the situation only got
better recently so we don’t have enough time to prepare a graduation ceremony,”
Raed Alkhasawneh, dean of the Student Affairs Council at the
German JordanianUniversity, told
Jordan News.
“Next semester we might do a graduation while combining the
students who graduated this semester with next semester,” he added. It “depends
on the pandemic situation next semester with some restrictions regarding the
attendance.”
‘Until all the students get vaccinated’
This isn’t the first semester that students have been barred
from celebrating their graduation in an in-person ceremony, Fakher Daas, the
general coordinator of a student advocacy moment called “Thabahtona,” told
Jordan News in an interview that “This frustration students have has been going
on since the beginning of the pandemic, in which every semester students get
frustrated and ask for a celebration.”
“But this semester the students are more frustrated,
especially because the pandemic situation is getting better and life is getting
back to normal. So students are asking for their right to celebrate by using
the hashtag ‘my graduation is my right.’”
Universities are still waiting for the Ministry of Higher
Education and Scientific Research to decide if they will perform a graduation
ceremony this year or not.
A source from a university in Jordan told
Jordan News that the
ministry “is focusing on vaccinating the students to ensure their safety, and
that until all the students get vaccinated there won’t be any kind of activities
at university campuses.”
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