Office of Her Majesty, Press Department
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Queen Rania drops in on
two Madrasati Phase II schools
(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department- Jerash) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al
Abdullah, on Wednesday, visited two schools in the Governorate of Jerash,
inspecting facilities which have begun renovation and maintenance work carried
out under the Madrasati Phase II initiative.
During the visit to the Jerash Elementary School for girls, the Queen was
accompanied by Madrasati Director, Danah Dajani, Eng. Sari Nasser, Hind Abu
Lubad, the school principal, and Majed Saedi, CEO of Eastern Holdings and
sponsor of the school.
Her Majesty interacted with school children and teachers who took pride in
showing off their newly renovated classrooms, teacher’s room and freshly paved
school yard. In addition, Queen Rania passed through the school’s kitchen, which
is yet to be renovated and checked the school’s toilets which are currently
under construction.
During the tour, teachers were eager to tell Her Majesty about the benefits
gained from the renovation process which significantly raised student’s
motivation to learn and encouraged them to demonstrate greater care for the
school’s facilities and surrounding environment.
Her Majesty also sat in one of the classrooms where a group of students shared
their experiences and involvement in health activities conducted in cooperation
with the community as part of the Madrasati Healthy School program.
Also yesterday, Queen Rania visited the Asma’ Bin Yazeed Elementary School for
girls and checked on maintenance and renovation work carried out under the
initiative.
The rented premises, which was built in 1962 and accommodates 360 students
(grades 1-6) and 23 teachers, is sponsored by the Nader Group. At the school Her
Majesty met with Eng. Usama Maghaiba, and Ms. Suaad Otoum, the school principal
who briefed Queen Rania on future renovation plans.
The representatives told Her Majesty the school is currently undergoing
restoration work to improve its classrooms, while the kitchen, toilets and
external grounds including the school fence, gate and garden have already been
refurbished.
Launched by the Queen last year, the Madrasati initiative seeks to provide a
better educational environment by renovating 500 schools across the Kingdom
through partnership with local communities, private and public sector
institutions and different civil society entities.
Initiated last month, Madrasati Phase II aims at refurbishing an additional 98
schools in Jerash, Ajloun, Balqa’ and Madaba which have been selected in
collaboration with the Ministry of Education.