Lawmakers protest ‘assumed’ cancellation of exceptions in university admission

AMMAN — Lower House Speaker Atef Tarawneh had to adjourn Tuesday's morning session following a noisy protest under the Dome by tens of MPs dismayed over “talk of a government decision to cancel university seats allocated to tribes outside the competition system”.

Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat told the Jordan News Agency, Petra, later in the day that “no decision was taken in the first place to cancel the tribal exception list.”

In the corridors leading to the main hall, a group of lawmakers began roaring in expression of anger and dismay over what they heard about the intention of the Higher Education Council (HEC) to cancel the longtime exceptions granted to tribes allowing their children to enroll in public universities.

MPs were demanding that the alleged decision be suspended, calling at the same time for sacking Higher Education Minister Labib Khadra, who had earlier cancelled a decision to stiffen university admission criteria, also under parliamentary pressure.

Failing to calm down the angry lawmakers, Tarawneh had to adjourn the morning session, which had been dedicated to debating the draft municipalities law.

Protesting lawmakers then left the main hall and held an unofficial meeting to discuss the issue. Their meeting concluded with a memorandum they submitted to the House’s secretariat, requesting a motion of no confidence against Khadra.

The move came despite assurances by Khadra recently that the exceptions “will not be affected” and that the new admission criteria would not cancel “lists of exceptions” in the admission process, but would “streamline the process” to improve its outputs.

Of the total annual admissions at state universities, 20 per cent of the seats are allocated for children of military personnel, 5 per cent for children of teachers, 10 per cent for graduates of schools that are classified as “underprivileged”, 350 seats are for students from Palestinian refugee camps and 15 seats are allocated for children of fallen soldiers, according to Ministry of Higher Education sources.

Studies cited by critics of the exception system, amount to almost 70 per cent of the seats thus leaving almost one-third for free competition, note that studies have shown that most of the students involved in campus violence have been admitted through the exception lists.

Constitutionally, the memorandum cannot be discussed during the current extraordinary session as it is not listed in the Royal Decree that summoned Parliament to convene.

Earlier this month, the HEC decided to freeze a decision it adopted last month to raise the minimum admission score for the Kingdom’s universities by 5 per cent. Instead, required averages in some majors were lowered.