Training course for newly-married couples under 18 begins

AMMAN — The Chief Islamic Justice Department (CIJD) announced that it has started training 173 employees to prepare newly-married couples under the age of 18 to the “reality of marriage life”, officials said on Wednesday.

“The employees are being trained in a scientific method and this is just an initial training workshop and more will follow,” a CIJD official said.

The official told The Jordan Times that the trained employees will then sit with individuals who want to get married to discuss with them several aspects related to marriage. 

Some of the aspects include marriage-related rights and duties in line with the civil and the Sharia law, health aspects of spousal relations, social aspects of children’s education and personal communication, psychological aspects, economic aspects and managing household finances, according to the CIJD official.

“The idea is to make sure that the couples would be trained on issues such as anger management, communication skills, understanding the personalities of each other and to deal with crisis among many other important topics that newly-married usually face,” the CIJD official explained. 

 “We want to prepare the young couples to the real marriage life and reality, and to ensure they are ready to face the expected challenges that results from marriage,” the official added.  

Director of the Judicial Institute of Jordan Judge Mansour Tawalbeh told The Jordan Times in a recent interview that the trainings are mandatory for couples under the age of 18 and once they finish they be given a “marriage licence” indicating their readiness to get married.

 “The decision aims to educate young engaged couples before committing to marriage and help them overcome family conflicts and disagreements,” according to Tawalbeh.

 The binding decision comes in accordance with the Article 36 of the Personal Status Law 2010, stressing that the programme was designed and will be delivered by specialised experts. The training will be implemented gradually until all governorates are included.

The department’s official statistics showed that 77,700 marriage contracts were issued in 2017, of which 10,434 involved marriages in which the wife was under the age of 18.

Meanwhile, the report showed that the divorce cases in 2017 amounted to 5,335, in which 413 cases involved wives under age of 18.