AMMAN — Jordanians are divided over the
government’s
controversial decision to switch to summer time at the end of February rather
than the end of March, as has been the case for years. MP Mohammad Shatnawi
sent a memo, on behalf of a group of other Lower House members, to Lower House
Speaker
Abdul Karim Al-Doghmi, asking that the government go back on its
decision to switch to summer time before the end of March, according to a local
media outlet.
اضافة اعلان
The complaint is that it is too early in the year to switch
to summer time. As Emad Mojahed, astronomer at the
Wadi Rum Astronomical
Observatory, told Jordan News, “the problem lies with the time the sun rises;
people would have to leave for work or school an hour earlier, while it is
still dark outside”, and “this will stress people out”.
Bringing forward daylight savings time “would also increase
electricity consumption, which contradicts the main purpose of switching time,
which is to reduce that consumption”, he said, adding that “the government
insists on switching to summer time, although I cannot fathom how that could
save electricity.”
“Generally factories do not open in the very early hours, so
it will just waste electricity and most of the people will need to put the
lights on in the house at that time,” he said, adding that the decision is
“negative and it will only cause losses to the government”.
Alaa Abu Arqoub, a student at the
University of Jordan who
lives in southern Marka, an Amman neighborhood, said that school time should
change depending on the season.
“Since summer is approaching, it is sort of a good decision,
but the only negative thing is that kids will have to go to schools in the
dark. As for me, my university schedule starts at 9am, so I already leave for
school after sunrise,” she said.
Abu Arqoub finds “another positive side” to the time
switching, which “is that shops and stores will be open for longer hours, thus
their sales and revenues would increase”.
Still, “as much as I am with the summer time, I still think
it would be perfect if the government delayed the school hours so that students
leave their homes safely after sunrise”.
Rasha Zayed, mother of two children who go to Al-Safwa
school, said “it does not matter to me whether they switch the time or not as I
always take my kids to school on my way to work”.
However, teacher Farah Badawi is against time switching as,
“aside from being a teacher, I have a baby, and I already arrive 15 minutes
late to school since I put my baby in the nursery and then go to work.”
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