exams

Aug. 4 (UPI) — The Justice Department announced Monday its Civil Rights Division would end a decades-old consent decree, which banned the federal government from using civil service exams to hire qualified candidates.

Luevano v. Director, Office of Personnel Management, a 1979 lawsuit filed during the Carter administration, accused the federal government’s Professional and Administrative Career Examination — or PACE — of discriminating against Black and Hispanic applicants.

A consent decree was entered in 1981, making civil service exams obsolete for the next 44 years. In March, the Trump administration filed a motion to terminate it.

“For over four decades, this decree has hampered the federal government from hiring the top talent of our nation,” said Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Today, the Justice Department removed that barrier and reopened federal employment opportunities based on merit — not race.”

Angel Luevano, who filed the case more than forty years ago, said attorneys for both sides met with the U.S. District Court judge for the District of Columbia last week to resolve the issue.

“The Decree has had its usefulness and a tremendous effect on the country,” Luevano said. “Millions of minorities and women hold jobs because of that class action lawsuit. It wasn’t DEI. It didn’t just benefit minorities and women. The alternative Outstanding Scholar Program … was actually used 70% by Whites.”

Luevano said he took the PACE exam, before filing the lawsuit, to get into a federal job and achieved a passing grade of 80, but did not get referred to federal openings because only those with 100 on their tests got jobs.

“I’m extremely proud of the effect that it has had on federal hires and getting minorities and women into federal jobs,” he added. “It affected my decision to join, it was the key for me to join federal civil rights compliance in the Labor Department.”

On Monday, the Justice Department called the federal government’s hiring practices over the last four decades “flawed and outdated theories of diversity, equity and inclusion.”

“It’s simple, competence and merit are the standards by which we should all be judged; nothing more and nothing less,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro for the District of Columbia. “It’s about time people are judged, not by their identity, but instead ‘by the content of their character.'”

Today is Sunday, July 20. It is day 653 of the war in Gaza, where at least 58,765 Palestinians have been killed.

It is day 653 of the war in Gaza, where at least 58,765 Palestinians have been killed.

In this episode:

Mohammed Vall (@Md_Vall) Al Jazeera Correspondent

Nour Odeh, (@nour_odeh) Al Jazeera  Correspondent

Tareq Abu Azzoum, (@TareqAzzom) Al Jazeera Correspondent

Some 1,500 students are scheduled to sit their end-of-school exams, despite Israel’s genocidal war.

Hundreds of Palestinian students in Gaza are taking a crucial end-of-secondary-school exam organised by the besieged enclave’s Ministry of Education in the hope of entering university studies.

Earlier this month, the ministry announced Saturday’s exam, which will be the first since Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza after the Hamas-led attack in southern Israel in October 2023.

The ministry confirmed that about 1,500 students are registered to take the exam, which will be conducted electronically using specialised software, adding that all necessary technical preparations have been carried out to ensure smooth administration.

Some students are sitting the online exam at home, while others are taking it at venues depending on the region they are in, with safety considerations in mind, given the daily Israeli bombardment.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting from Deir el-Balah, stressed that for Palestinian students, the exam is a critical gateway to higher education, scholarships and a future beyond the Israeli blockade.

He said: “Even in a warzone, with no classrooms, no books and barely any internet, Gaza’s students are showing up, logging in and sitting their final exam, refusing to let war erase their future.”

After the war started, the education of many students in Gaza has been put on hold, and the results of Saturday’s exam will allow them to continue their studies at university.

Many should have been at university by now, but remained at the high school level due to the war, as Israeli attacks have devastated Gaza’s education system, along with the rest of the territory’s civilian infrastructure.

In response, Gaza’s Education Ministry has launched an online platform – the first of its kind in Gaza – to enable high school seniors to take their final exam.

“Students have downloaded the app to take their exam, but they face many challenges,” Morad al-Agha, the exams director of the Central Gaza Governorate, told Al Jazeera.

“We have raised these concerns with the ministry to make sure they’re resolved, so students can sit for their exams without disruption.”

‘It is so difficult’

Students log in from cafes, tents and shelters – wherever they can find a charged device and a working internet connection.

Before the final exam, they have completed a mock test, designed not only to test their knowledge but also the system’s stability.

However, students tell Al Jazeera that going digital in Gaza has not been easy.

“We are taking exams online, but it is so difficult,” student Doha Khatab said. “The internet is weak, many of us do not have devices and there is no safe space to take the test. We also lost our books in the bombardment.”

To support them, a few teachers have reopened damaged classrooms and are offering in-person guidance.

“It is the first time the ministry has done this online and students are confused, so we’re trying to guide them step by step,” teacher Enam Abu Slisa told Al Jazeera.

The war in Gaza and the destruction of 95 percent of educational infrastructure have left more than 660,000 children out of school – nearly all of Gaza’s school-aged population, according to the United Nations.

Many former UN-run schools are now being used as shelters for displaced people and also face relentless, deadly Israeli attacks.

A report to the UN Human Rights Council found that Israeli forces systematically destroyed education infrastructure in Gaza. The report described these actions as potential war crimes.