In first in Tunisia’s baccalaureate history, top student exceeds perfect score

Ahmed exceeded perfect score in baccalureate exam

TUNIS: Tunisian student Ahmed Kallala has made history in Tunisia by exceeding the perfect score in the baccalaureate exam, obtaining 20.15 out of 20.

Ahmed, a Mathematics student at the Monastir Model High School, obtained near perfect score in all mandatory subjects, but received two bonuses in two other elective subjects that raised his final score to 20.15, Education Minister Mohammed Hamdi said as he announced the results of the exams students take at the end of their high school education.

According to an April 24, 2008 decision, an advanced grade obtained by each student in an elective course is computed, which enabled Ahmed to achieve “this extraordinary and unprecedented score”, he explained.

Ahmed, 19 next month, was also Tunisia’s top laureate in the national ninth grade exams. His mother is a doctor and his father is a physical education teacher, and the family lives in Monastir, a resort city in the North African country’s east coast.

The baccalaureate exams in Tunisia, launched in May 1957, are taken after 13 years of formal school education, six in the elementary school, three in the middle school and four in the high school, making it among the longest in the world.

The exams, usually taken in June, but delayed this year because the coronavirus forced the closure of schools, are among the most competitive.

With 35,227 out 127,039 students succeeding in the exams, the overall success rate for the July 2020 baccalaureate exams was 27.73%, Hamdi told a media conference

Only 86 home students out of a total of 4,091 passed the exams, he added.

Girls outclassed boys thanks to a success rate of 60% to 39.99%.