AMMAN — The National Campaign for Defending Students’ Rights
(Thabahtoona) recently released a statement denouncing what it said was the
Ministry of Education’s exclusion of public schools from full in-class
learning.
اضافة اعلان
The Ministry of Education’s announcement of a “limited return
to in-class education” for public schools, while private schools would be able
to fully bring back classes drew questions over equality. However, the ministry
said the statement was simply a “misunderstanding,” according to Ministry of
Education Secretary-General Najwa Qbelat.
The ministry’s statement also stirred confusion among parents
about plans for public schools.
A parent of a public school student, who spoke to
Jordan News
on the condition of anonymity, expressed her disappointment and said that
“discrimination and bias to private schools, as I can lately see, might drive
me to incur costs and return my daughter to her old private school.”
Thabahtoona’s statement, posted on Facebook on Thursday, said
it strongly denounces the exclusion of public, UNRWA, and military school
students from the ministry’s official decision.
The ministry’s statement, according to Thabahtoona, “entails
and ensures the ministry’s adoption of hybrid learning and rotation systems,”
in which students will be allowed to attend only twice or thrice a week in
schools — compared to private school pupils, who will resume all classes
in-person.
Thabahtoona campaign coordinator Fakher Daas told
Jordan News that “we are supposed not only to return competently to in-class learning, but
also to intensify and extend school hours (more) than before.”
Daas pointed to the educational loss incurred by students
from all age because of online learning. “We do not enjoy the privilege to
resume distance education,” he said, calling its outcomes “a resounding
failure.”
He added that “since the intended blended system depends on
online learning for some parts, the educational loss will be an endless
loop.” We should shoulder two
responsibilities for the time being, according to Daas; “one is to compensate the
previous academic loss, and the other is to prevent any further future ones.”
Technology and electronic educational platforms are supportive tools but
never alternatives to the right of in-person schooling for all students, Daas
noted.
Qbelat, said
in an interview with
Jordan News, that she was surprized by this
circulated understanding of the news.
Qbelat said
that the ministry’s statement “came in a context where the minister was meeting
with owners of private schools to discuss private schools’ situations and
ensure adherence to specified capacity according to formal licenses — otherwise
they will be fined,” she explained.
“Education this year is set to be
fully in-person for all schools that fulfill health protocols. And those, from
both private and public sectors, unable to abide by physical distancing will go
for rotation and hybrid learning,” the ministry official said.
Increased public school population
Over the past year, many students transferred from private to public
schools to deal with both the difficult economic situation in the country and
the feeling that online education was not worth private school tuition. Over
130,000 students are enrolled in private schools.
Daas said that “it has been a year or at least 10
months, but the ministry did not make any decisions to accommodate for this
huge number by improving its infrastructure and logistics, building or renting
new buildings, and appointing adequate teaching and administrative staff.”
Qbelat highlighted that around 800 out of 4,000 schools are unable to adhere to a one-meter
distance protocol, which “accounts for only 0.2” or 20 percent of schools,
according to the latest numbers anticipated for formal return in September.
The ministry representative also said that the
130,000 number may change. “Numbers may increase or decrease in light of
transferring movement between public and private schools, which is expected to
begin on the 25th this month up until late September.”
Once the real numbers are confirmed and the
transition stabilizes, Qbelat said that the ministry will consider “renting and
building new buildings, turning to double or night shifts, expanding personnel,
or working on other solutions and alternatives.”
“If we decide now to rent
schools and appoint new public personnel, yet students return to their schools
a month later, all these commitments and contracts will be a hasty, unwise
decisions,” said Qbelat.
As for a compensatory program announced to make
up for the academic loss, Qbelat estimated that it might allow for complete
face-to-face education, given that it is not compulsory and the numbers of
attendees might fall below capacity.
In all cases, Qbelat stressed that the number of
registered students in the program must not exceed 25 per class. “What’s the
point of a make-up program in a crowded class of 60? Students then won’t
benefit,” she said.
Combating COVID-19
The campaign coordinator said that the epidemiological situation is
stable, arguing that there is no tangible risk for teachers who are fully
vaccinated against COVID-19 nor for families who will be able to get a shot
without an appointment after the eid holiday.
“To facilitate the education process, the ministry partly reduced the 2sq.m.
health protocol to one meter per student. So why not compensate more and make
it 70cm to allow for 100 percent in-class learning for everyone,” suggested
Daas.
However, Qbelat said it is not
possible to loosen regulations set by the Ministry of Health to account for the
current pandemic.
“While
it’s public schools’ obligation to enroll all students regardless of the one-meter
rule, we still need to balance between the educational and health issues
through alternatives,” she said.
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