Two teachers attacked by over 30 people after student was banned from exam for cheating

AMMAN — It was more like a warzone at the Netel Secondary School for Boys in Jiza District on Monday, according to eyewitnesses.

Yazan Momani, a physics teacher, was monitoring an exam hall when a student arrived late and reportedly tried to cheat from his peers.

“I told the student to stop as he caused chaos in the examination hall, but he refused to listen to me and I had to prevent him from sitting for the exam,” the 28-year-old teacher told The Jordan Times on Tuesday.

The 10th-grader flung insults at Momani and then left the school.

“After about half-an-hour, the student came back with his father and 30 of his siblings and relatives and started attacking me and another teacher with clubs on our backs and heads,” he said.

Momani added that after the other teacher, Moeen Shubbak, lost consciousness from the beating, the attackers kidnapped him and blackmailed him, saying that they would let his colleague die if he reported the incident.

“I called the police and the Civil Defence Department (CDD) but no one took action. I called them 14 times and they did not come to rescue us,” charged Momani, who added that the attackers returned Shubbak after he confirmed that he did not call the police.

Moreover, Momani said the father of the student committed a “very shameful act” against him, but he felt too “embarrassed” to tell The Jordan Times about it.

“For the first time, I felt like the country is incapable of protecting us,” said the teacher, who holds a master’s degree, adding that he will sue the police and the CDD.

The police spokesperson could not be reached for comment on the issue.

Shubbak was not in good condition and unable to speak to the media.

Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat, who visited the teachers at Prince Hamzah Hospital, condemned the attack and tasked the ministry’s legal department with filing a lawsuit against the perpetrators.

He also asked the Jiza Education Department director to submit a detailed report on the attack, according to an Education Ministry statement.

Momani noted that the education and interior ministers have shown their full support and that security guards were sent to monitor their rooms at the hospital.

The Jordan Teachers Association (JTA) denounced the attack, calling on the government to expedite the endorsement of the draft teachers safety and security law.

“The syndicate drafted the law to protect teachers and regain their prestige,” said Abdul Rahman Zaben, a member of the JTA in Jiza.

He noted that Jiza, located in the south of Amman, suffers from security issues, especially caused by those “who claim to be influential”.

“The district governor and the police are very weak in the area. Even the education director was attacked three months ago and could not do anything against the perpetrators. The schools are becoming more like battlefields,” he told The Jordan Times.

Under the proposed law, those who assault teachers will pay a fine of at least JD1,000 and will be jailed for between five months and one year even if the teacher drops charges.

“I believe that law will act as a deterrent,” he said, noting that the government should realise that schools are government departments at the end of the day and attacking them means attacking the state as a whole.

Some 14,300 students study at the district’s 102 schools, Zaben said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times.