Ten female students were prevented from siting the third level Arabic language Tawjihi exam in a Tafileh school recently, with conflicting reasons given for the decision.

The director of education in Tafileh Governorate, Arif Al Rufu, said that the decision to prevent the ten students from siting the exam was due to them arriving 20 minutes late to the exam.

Late arrival to an exam is "contrary to the exam instructions, which does not allow the student to enter the examination hall even one minute late," Rufu is quoted by the Jordan News Agency, Petra, as saying.

Parents of the students who were prevented from siting the exam in Tafileh, 180km southwest of Amman, offered an alternative version of events.

One parent, quoted by Petra, said that at the end of the first session of the exam, "one of the female supervisors asked the girls to leave the room and go to the school yard until the second session began.”

Returning a few minutes later, the parent said, the female students were then “asked to return after 15 minutes. When the students returned, the exam had already started”, and the students were therefore unable to enter the examination hall, the parent continued.