Education Ministry to address overcrowding in Sama Sarhan schools

AMMAN — Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat on Thursday said the ministry will soon float a tender to build a new school in Sama Sarhan to replace rented school buildings in the Northeastern Badia town. 

Parents of students in local schools kept their children at home for the fifth day on Thursday in protest against overcrowded classrooms, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Families in Sama Sarhan in Mafraq Governorate, some 80km northeast of Amman, decided not to send their children to schools on Sunday and plan to continue the protest until a solution is found to accommodate the Syrian students residing in the area.  

During a meeting with a delegation representing the town’s residents, Thneibat said the ministry will move some students from the district to another school that can accommodate around 400 children in the neighbouring town of Zamlat Al Tarqi, Petra reported.

The school has 10 classrooms and only 38 students, he said.

Thneibat noted that the number of students in Sama Sarhan, which has six schools and 1,718 students, is within the natural average.

But Sama Sarhan Mayor Ali Sarhan told The Jordan Times earlier this week that the overcrowding of classrooms has become “fatal” in the district, which is home to more than 5,000 Syrians and was classified by the government as a poverty-pocket in 2005.

Members of the delegation representing Sama Sarhan parents expressed their appreciation to the ministry for its efforts to provide a suitable educational environment, Petra reported.