AMMAN — As the beginning of the new scholastic
semester approaches, thousands of students are expected to move from private to
public schools, especially in light of the hard economic circumstances.
اضافة اعلان
Distance learning has also contributed to the shift, as public schools have,
over the course of the pandemic, proven their effectiveness and efficiency at
it.
Mohammad Omar, a father of two children,
told Jordan News that "I have moved my children to public schools
and I am glad that I have taken this decision."
"I always wanted to move them to
public schools,” Omar added.
“I think it is the best time to do this.” He explained
that he had heard from family and friends that public schools had “proven their
professionalism” during the pandemic.
Omar said that he is convinced it’s the
students themselves and their attitude towards their academics that makes all
the difference, and that for him, at the end of the day, “there are no
differences between private and public schools — you only pay more for private
schools.”
Similarly, Ali Turki, a father of
school-aged children, told Jordan News that the fact "our hard
economic situation resulted from the pandemic is not a secret anymore."
Moving his children to public schools
was motivated by the uncertain economic situation, Turki said, adding that
going to a private school can influence your child to “want to live a luxurious
life” that he cannot afford.
For his part, Ministry of Education
spokesperson Ahmad Al Masafa told Jordan News that "it is hard to
know the exact number of students who moved from private to public schools as
it is an ongoing process."
Masafa confirmed that the flow of
students is not only in one direction — "on the contrary, some students
are moving from public to private schools too.”
The spokesperson offered as a possible
explanation the fact that public schools have proven their “professionalism”
over the course of the pandemic as it related to distance learning.
President of the Private School Owners
Association Munther Al-Sourani told Jordan News that "we can not
blame parents for moving their children to public schools.”
“The priorities are different now, as
are the economic circumstances,” Sourani said, adding that the move was
understandable.
Minister of Education Mohammad Kheir Abu
Qdeis had stated previously that more than 130,000 students moved from private
schools to public schools during the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The minister added, during a meeting at
the Education Ministry last month, that the transfer of thousands of students
to public schools would require implementing additional health measures to
ensure students’ safety.
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