Cairo: The final school examinations in the Saudi holy city of Mecca have been brought forward due to next month’s annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage.
The authorities announced advancing dates of the end-of-year exams in the city’s schools “exceptionally” because the Hajj season is drawing close.
Accordingly, practical tests will begin on the 14th of the Islamic lunar month Dhul Qadah corresponding to May 22, written exams on Dhul Qadah 18 or May 26, and oral exams on June 3.
This year’s Hajj rites in and around Mecca are expected to begin on June 14, depending on the sighting of the new moon.
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More than 2 million Muslims from across the globe are projected to attend upcoming Hajj.
Saudi agencies engaged in preparing for Hajj works anticipate record numbers of pilgrims after around 30 million Muslims from inside and outside the kingdom undertook Umrah or minor pilgrimage in the Grand Mosque, Islam’s holiest site, in Mecca during the past Islamic sacred month of Ramadan that ended on April 9.
Some 1.8 million Muslims from around the world last year performed Hajj, marking the return of their numbers to pre-pandemic levels.
Saudi Arabia has embarked on early preparations for this year’s Hajj under a new strategy for overseas pilgrims. Therefore, no specific places would be allotted any more for countries. Instead, places for different countries are allocated depending on the time of finalising contracts.
The new mechanism aims at facilitating preparations for Hajj, an obligatory Islamic duty that must be carried out at least once in a lifetime by Muslims who can afford it physically and financially.
