Zarqa teacher galvanises students into action to help schools

AMMAN — A carpentry teacher at Zarqa Comprehensive Secondary School expects that if he and the students engaged in an initiative to fix school furniture manage to achieve their short- and medium-term goals, they would be saving JD1.5 to JD2 million in public funds in a couple of years.

The targeted furniture, said Mustafa Dasouqi, includes mainly desks and other items that seem irreparable and thus destined for the junkyard.

At first he was using a vehicle provided by the education department in Zarqa, 22km northeast of Amman, to tour schools in the city with his students and start loading the piles of junk before returning the items as good as new. 

Now, he has to pay for transportation because the government car is no longer at his disposal.  

So far, the worth of the 2,000 desks repaired, in addition to tables, boards and doors, is estimated between JD40,000 and 50,000 and at this pace, the “My School is My Responsibility” initiative “will be saving millions over the years”, according to Dasouqi.

Principal of Al Muhallab Elementary School, Qassem Sinjalawi, told The Jordan Times over the phone that Dasouqi and his students saved more than 400 seats in his school and engaged the vocational education teachers serving there in efforts to sustain the maintenance operation.

One of the students involved in the initiative looks at it as a “community service”, stressing that he only awaits a “divine reward”.

“I know that as long as someone benefits from a service I do, God will reward me for the good deed,” said Yazan Khatib, who added that he and his classmates are encouraged by other students in the school and the larger community.

“They appreciate what we do and we feel good about it,” he said.

The teacher does not want to stop here. He wants such efforts to be “institutionalised”.

“The Ministry of Education can have a centre concerned with maintenance that would engage volunteer students and teachers as well as donors from the private sector,” Dasouqi suggested.

He found one donor and partner. A company that deals with insulation materials and paint, provides the necessary materials for the maintenance drive.

“We have joined as partners in this initiative,” said Yasser Khattab, the founder and manager of the Amman-based Smart Penetration. 

“We simply admire a man who started all this single-handedly, and a group of students who are trying to make a difference.”