Crown Prince makes surprise visit to school hosting youth initiative

AMMAN — HRH Crown Prince Hussein on Wednesday paid an unannounced visit to Zaid Bin Harithah Secondary School for Boys in Madaba, a host of a youth initiative.  

The visit aimed at reviewing progress in the nationwide summer "Basma" (fingerprint) programme, in which about 50,000 students from the Kingdom's schools are taking part, according to a Royal Court statement.

The programme, implemented by the Education Ministry with support from the Crown Prince Foundation, aims to invest students’ time during the summer holiday to equip them with useful skills.

The Crown Prince's visit came to highlight the success of the programme in its second edition in motivating school students to actively participate in their local communities, encourage volunteer work and enhance the values of giving and achievement.

The Crown Prince participated in a dialogue session on ways to enhance students' ability to make decisions and accept others' points of views. 

He also took part in a session entitled "human values", which discussed issues related to the dangers of extremism and ways to address these dark ideologies through awareness in line with the values of the tolerance and moderation preached by Islam.

His Royal Highness also attended a workshop on public safety under the supervision of civil defence cadres and watched a military training in the school yard under the supervision of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army, according to the statement.

He also reviewed the Sustainable Cultural Heritage project, which engages local communities and aims to enhance respect for cultural heritage among school students and increase their awareness of the importance of preserving archaeological sites.

During the visit, HRH Crown Prince praised the efforts exerted by the participating and supporting institutions to the programme in order to help it achieve its objectives. 

The programme is designed to promote self-confidence, develops leadership qualities, highlight the importance of teamwork and volunteerism and boost the national morale.

He stressed the importance of benefitting from the experience of the programme for the current year and building on it, as well as contributing to its development in a manner that ensures further  efficiency of educational and training courses according to the best standards that will enhance the capabilities of students in future programmes.

A total of 30,000 male students and 20,000 female students from the ninth and tenth grades of 140 schools, representing all the education directorates in the Kingdom, participate in Basma, the statement noted.