Jordan News

Atallah’s prayer

Three semesters and a summer have passed without holding graduation ceremonies for students, since the Jordanian government took several measures on March 15 of the year 2020 to limit the spread of the Corona virus. And confine them to concerts by default remotely.

With the end of each semester, students launch a campaign via social media to allow graduation ceremonies to be held within specific health conditions in their universities, and with the government taking mitigating measures and gradually reopening sectors to reach a safe summer, the students dream that mitigating measures include allowing graduation ceremonies to be held in universities .

Joy stolen by the pandemic

“The dream of my life was to go up to the surgical stage,” said student Samah Abu Saqir, who obtained a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Medicine at Mutah University, her sadness as a result of the cancellation of graduation ceremonies due to the epidemiological situation.

She added during her speech to “Akhbar Al-Jordan”, “I used to go to the graduation of the batches that preceded us, and I imagined myself in their place,” adding, “I could not be happy, so I made a small party at home for my family and friends.”

Abu Sqair also indicated that she created an electronic graduation book to preserve the feelings of family, friends and teachers as a memory that will remain with her for a lifetime.

The student, Zain Sheikhan, who finished her studies from the Faculty of Administrative Sciences at the University of Petra, said, “The look of pride in my family’s eyes stole from me” when I saw the graduation robe to receive the certificate after my study journey and my tiredness over the years.

She added that before the Corona pandemic, she intended to hold a party for her graduation, but currently it will be limited to the family only.

As for the student, Seif El-Din Jabr, who completed the bachelor’s requirements from the Faculty of Business at the University of Jordan, he was waiting for his first joy in his life, explaining that due to the circumstances of Corona, the joy of graduation I had been waiting for 4 years was stolen from us.

And he indicated that despite the epidemiological circumstance, he will hold an expanded party that includes all family and friends.

Graduation was a dream, for the student Rahaf Qatarneh, who graduated at the beginning of the Corona pandemic, and the closure of universities and their transformation into distance education, as she obtained a bachelor’s degree from the Faculty of Arts at the University of Petra, and she said during her talk to Jordan News that it was possible to hold a graduation party, and we remained in a state of Hesitating between holding a party or canceling it until the joy is dead.

She also indicated that she held a remote party via the Microsoft Teams application with her friends due to the epidemic situation, and in compensation for the joy of graduation.

While the student Baraa Khalil, who graduated from the Faculty of Business Administration at Al-Zaytoonah University, described the graduation party as the joy of a lifetime, except that I, the Corona pandemic, stole this joy and hid the four-year dream.

He added that the joy of graduating is a joy for the parents, so he will hold a party that is limited and in a simple way to remain a memory.

under consideration

On the fate of graduation ceremonies in public and private universities, the Minister of Education and Higher Education, Dr. Muhammad Abu Quddis, revealed that the ministerial committee concerned with opening sectors is studying the issue of whether or not to hold graduation ceremonies in universities.

He added, during his speech to the Jordan News Online newspaper, that the committee is studying the development of a specific health protocol for holding graduation ceremonies in universities, in addition to setting a date for opening the door for graduation.

Caution

Social expert Dr. Hussein Al-Khuzaie warned during his speech to Jordan News against gatherings because they are a focus for the spread of the virus, especially since the disease is still in a dangerous phase despite the low number of infections.

Al-Khuzai stressed the need to take caution and accept the culture of apology, and not to hold any of the parties that lead to more suffering for people.

He explained that graduation is an occasion to show joy and reap the fruits of study, but we fear that joy will turn into a focus for the spread of infection, especially in gatherings where prevention methods are not taken into account.

The students expressed their dissatisfaction with being deprived of the joy of graduation since the beginning of March of the year 2020, as a result of the Corona pandemic and the subsequent government decisions to limit the spread of the epidemic.