2.17 million school students to return to classroom Wednesday

AMMAN — About 2.174 million students are returning to school on Wednesday to resume in-class education at the start of the 2021-2022 academic year. 

Secretary General of the Ministry of Education Najwa Qubeilat said that an “odd-even plan” will be implemented in the first two days of school. This will entail first, third, fifth, seventh, nineth and 11th grade students attending school on the first day and the other students in “even” grades on the next day. 

She added that the first two days will introduce the psychological support programme, “Takayaf”. 

As of next Sunday, the Kingdom’s 3,982 schools will operate at full capacity, including kindergartens and double-shift schools, she added.

The education plan considers three scenarios: In-person learning in schools that provide one square metre physical distancing between students in classrooms, hybrid or blended learning in the schools without the required one square metre distance between students, and distance learning for COVID-19 infected students for 14 days, she said.

Schools that record a 10 per cent infection rate will return to online learning for 14 days, she said. 

She noted that no school part of the Academic Loss Compensation Programme has had to return to online learning as a result of increased infections.