Ministry reforming education to counter 'decline' in quality — Thneibat

AMMAN — While the Kingdom was once a leading country in the field of education, recent results have been “disappointing”, Deputy Prime Minister and Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat said Wednesday. 

“[Jordan was] one of the best countries for education, but then the country witnessed a decline, causing it to decline on [international] lists for more than 15 years, a phenomenon that needs to be studied thoroughly,” he said at a seminar held at Al Asriyya Schools.

Many private entities took advantage of this decline and started investing in education, causing it to become profit-oriented and not beneficial to some students, according to the minister.

“As a society, we paid a very high price for the backslide in education and many problems in our education system were overlooked,” Thneibat said.

“It was a must to evaluate the education system as it is, and the results were saddening and disastrous," he added. “We found out that a huge proportion of school students in both sectors cannot read and write in grade 12.” 

“The tragedy was that when we conducted a study, we found that 130,000 students in the first three grades did not know how to read and write,” Thneibat recalled. “I, myself, have experienced this. I saw eighth, ninth and even 12th graders who could not read or write.” 

The minister said there are two methods to reform education: improving the curricula and enhancing teachers' skills. 

"We started with the curricula, despite the unfair, illogical campaign against us by people who have nothing to do with education,” Thneibat added. “No one should discuss the curricula unless they are specialists in curricula and education.”

He said the ministry started by improving curricula for the first three grades of elementary schools, causing the number of students who read and write in those grades to show an increase compared to previous years. 

Thneibat also emphasised the importance of the school environment in regards to the quality of the education provided. 

“The environment paves the way for development in educational sectors,” the minister said.