Government to revise new school mathematics, science curricula following backlash

AMMAN — The National Centre for Curriculum Development (NCCD) has stated that it is working to form committees to look into feedback received on the first- and fourth-grade mathematics and science books for the first semester. 

NCCD Director Ruba Bataineh told The Jordan Times on Wednesday that the books are experimental, and that once the committees are formed, feedback on the books from those in the education field will be reviewed in order to upgrade the books accordingly.

The director also announced that the mathematics and science curricula for the second semester of the first and fourth grades have been endorsed by the Ministry of Education, and will be distributed to students for the second academic semester. 

The updated math and science books for the second, fifth, seventh and 10th grades will be released next year, Bataineh said.

The three-year project to update curricula aims to ensure that students who are currently using the new curricula will continue to do so until they reach Tawjihi (the final year of secondary school), so that they are not suddenly exposed to unfamiliar material, according to Bataineh. 

The announcement came in light of a recent sit-in near the Education Ministry at the end of November, where primary school students and parents from across the Kingdom, as well as teachers, protested against the first- and fourth-grade mathematics and science curricula introduced to public schools by the ministry at the beginning of the academic year.

Bataineh said that this "unprecedented feedback" from the parents will also be looked into, alongside feedback from teachers in the field, in order to revise and update the curricula accordingly. 

The curricula were developed through an international tender won by Harper Collins, the second-largest publication house in the world, Bataineh said in August when the curricula were first announced.