Jordan Times
Monday, August 30, 2004
Government committed to building 19 new schools by 2008
By Khalid Dalal
AMMAN — With 21 new public schools built during the 2003-2004 scholastic year,
the government, with the help of international donors, is now planning to build
an additional 19 new schools over the coming four years at a total cost of
around $250 million.
These schools, according to Ministry of Education officials, will be designed to
accommodate 135,000 new students expected to start their 12-year scholastic
journey between 2005 and 2008.
“We are seeking to build 19 public schools based on the modern concept of what a
school should be. They will be built in line with international standards in
terms of construction and the facilities they offer,” said Osama Mughied,
director general of school buildings and international projects at the Education
Ministry.
The new schools, he indicated, will make a noticeable improvement in the quality
of educational services offered to students.
“They will all be fitted with a central heating system and be equipped with an
ICT infrastructure enabling students to access computers and Internet from their
classrooms.”
Schools are also to be made more colourful. “We will no longer continue using
grey and off-white when painting schools,” noted Mughied.
Some colours help attract students' attention and reduce eye fatigue, said the
ministry's secretary general for educational and technical affairs, Tayseer
Eneimeh.
The right choice of classroom colours can increase the productivity of students
as well as their teachers, he added.
The new schools will also have better sports facilities, Eneimeh said. The
ministry is also contemplating building swimming pools in some schools.
Currently, sports facilities at public schools are unable to cope with the large
number of students. Also, some of the present sports facilities do not meet
international standards.
According to Mughied, the new schools will be built as part of the ministry's
Educational Reform for Knowledge Economy (ERfKE) project's first stage. The
project is supported by the World Bank in partnership with the governments of
Canada, the United States, Britain and Japan. The project is scheduled to be
completed by early 2008.
The schools will be equipped with facilities for students with special needs.
“This type of students require the appropriate facilities, such as special
bathrooms and easy access to all parts of the school,” said Mughied.
The ministry's secretary general for administrative and financial affairs, Atef
Odibat, said one of the goals behind the project is to gradually replace rented
schools with government ones.
Around 13 per cent of the Kingdom's 3,000 schools are currently rented and
accommodate around 11 per cent of the 1.1 million public school students.
By building 19 new schools, “we hope to reduce rented school buildings to less
than 5 per cent of the total number of government-run schools,” said Odibat.
Another major goal of the new project is to gradually cancel the two-shift
system which currently operates in 10 per cent of government schools.
The system was introduced to alleviate overcrowding so that half the students
attend classes in the morning while the other half come in the afternoon, the
ministry's spokesperson, Ayman Barakat, said.
According to the official, “the ministry's project is not only a matter of
modern buildings, but a comprehensive shift in what public schools can offer in
terms of modern facilities, qualified teachers and effective curricula.”
Executive Director of the Development Coordination Unit at the Education
Ministry Ian Mclellan, who is responsible for the $380 million ERfKE project,
said the project aims to achieve a number of major goals: Change and improve the
governance and administration of school education, renew school curricula, and
offer new training for teachers and improve learning resources.