AMMAN — The
Ministry of Education had its directorates register students, newly
transferred to public schools on waiting lists, in schools that have reached
full student capacity and suffer from overcrowding, according to the
Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education for Administrative and Financial
Affairs Najwa Qbilat.
اضافة اعلان
Qbilat said that while registration is open to
students wishing to transfer to public schools, schools that reached full
capacity may register students on waiting lists, keeping a record of the
students’ guardian’s contact number.
According to Qbilat, schools are overcrowded
especially in Qweismeh, Marka, Qasbah Amman, Qasbah Az-Zarqa al-Um, and
Ruseifa. There are also some rented schools with small classroom capacity,
which cannot accommodate large numbers of students.
Qbilat said that the Directorate of Education will
institute the shift system and that students on waiting lists will be guided to
schools selected by the ministry in locations that suit them.
According to international standards, 1.9sq.m. of
classroom should be allocated per student, Qbilat said, adding that last year
the ministry had to reduce that to 1sq.m. and “this year we went down to
0.7sq.m. per student, and there is also overcrowding”.
Qbilat said that during the COVID-19 pandemic in
2020 and 2021, more than 200,000 students moved from
private schools to public
schools. Therefore, the ministry used distance education and the rotation
system, now suspended.
This year Qbilat said, “it is a must to ensure that
students are not deprived of the possibility to transfer to public schools,
within the capabilities of the ministry”.
As for the mechanism of selection of schools to
receive new students, Qbilat said that the ministry’s planning department will
assess which are the most appropriate schools to accommodate more students.
At the same time, since the rotation system is not
appropriate after the COVID-19 pandemic, returning to daily attendance is
necessary, and “the best practical solution is to work morning and evening
shifts to accommodate the new students”.
Um Rashid, whose son is in the third grade in a
public school in Madaba, said that “the number of students is large compared to
the classroom space; moreover, the issue is not only classroom space, but
school facilities and teachers’ attention, which is less when the number of
students is large”.
Um Rashid added that she has no choice for her son
but the same public school he was enrolled in last year, as it is the closest
to home, “and the high fees of private schools, even for the first grades, make
it a difficult choice”.
Khawla, a teacher in a public school, told
Jordan
News that migration from private to public schools has caused overcrowding,
especially due to the pandemic, and schools can only accommodate a certain
number of student.
Khawla added that the student has the right to
be in a public school because he is a Jordanian citizen with a national number,
but schools began accepting students without taking into account their rights,
“which was reflected in the educational process, as the teacher became unable
to give each student his full right “.
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