Parents of private school students demand 30% refund of spring semester fees

AMMAN — Adding to demands voiced since the beginning of schools' transition to online learning, parents of private school students are now seeking 30-per-cent compensation of school fees for the second semester.

Parents have been asking the government to intervene by issuing a defence order that would compel schools to return part of the fees paid for the second school semester as well as the additional bus fees paid by some parents.

The Parents' Coalition started a petition last month that now has thousands of signatures asking Prime Minister and Minister of Defence Omar Razzaz to issue a defence order that stipulates the reduction of private school fees, citing the argument that online learning offered by the schools has been “inadequate”.

This month, parents stated that they are demanding a discount of 30 per cent on fees for the second semester, calling for the parents’ council to be allowed to have a say in the schools' policies.

“In advanced countries, a school does not get created if it does not have a parents’ council. Here, we pay thousands and we do not get a say in so much as the uniform,” said Mohammad Kiswani, father of two and one of the parents who signed the petition.

Private schools “are acting as if they are cut off from the rest of the world and have not heard of our demands in the news, online, or through calls made to them”, Kiswani told The Jordan Times over the phone.

Parents also noted that private schools “claim that they suffered losses as a result of the coronavirus crisis, but they have in fact borne no losses as most of them require the full fee upfront,” Rula Qasem, a mother, said in a Facebook post.

"They now have the full fees but have chosen to fire teachers and present a pathetic, inadequate online system. They are profiting off of us teaching our children at home,” she added.

Private School Owners Association President Monther Sorani was contacted for a reply but was unavailable for comment.