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AMMAN — Judge Mahmoud Ababneh was sworn in on Sunday before His Majesty King Abdullah at Al Husseiniya Palace as president of the Supreme Administrative Court (SAC).

Head of the Judicial Council and director of the King's Office attended the swearing-in ceremony, according to a Royal Court statement.

AMMAN — His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday received the credentials of newly appointed Pakistani Ambassador to Jordan Junaid Rehmat, as an accredited and resident ambassador to the Kingdom during a ceremony at Al Husseiniya Palace, according to a Royal Court statement.

Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi attended the ceremony.

AMMAN — Minister of Labour Ali Ghezawi said on Sunday that the National Programme for Empowerment and Employment would reduce the number of foreign workers in targeted sectors at a rate ranging between 10-25 per cent over five years, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The programme, which was launched by the government in September of last year, aims to create new employment opportunities for Jordanians in the sectors of industry, tourism, agriculture, construction, service and energy after training programmes.

Ghezawi noted that the government has allocated up to JD100 million to implement the programme through incentives offered to participants and direct support of a number of sectors.

The programme will also focus on the reform of professions in a number of sectors currently flooded with immigrant workers, such as construction, according to Petra. 

AMMAN — The Education Ministry has finished evaluation of papers of all courses of the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi), Nawaf Ajarmeh, the director of the ministry's examination department said on Sunday.

The department has received all answer booklets from correction centres, Ajarmeh said, noting that the booklets will undergo comprehensive revision for ensuring the grades before announcing final results, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The ministry had earlier announced that Tawjihi results of the winter session would be announced around mid-February. 

AMMAN — The staff of the Jordanian Field Hospital “Gaza 51” on Saturday arrived in the Gaza strip, as “Gaza 50” staff members returned after completing their mission, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Hospital Commander Lieutenant Col. Munther Obeidat stressed that the team is "proud" to be serving in Gaza, implementing His Majesty King Abdullah’s and the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army’s directives.

AMMAN — Police on Sunday announced the arrest of a woman who allegedly assaulted a government lab technician in Amman earlier in the day, official sources said.

“We have arrested a woman following a complaint that a patient had attacked a lab technician in Sahab Health Centre and beat her up,” Police Spokesperson Lt. Col. Amer Sartawi said.

The suspect fled the area but was arrested by police shortly afterwards, the police official told The Jordan Times.

Sartawi said it was not clear why the attack took place, adding that “the suspect was referred to the concerned authorities for further investigation and questioning”.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry Spokesperson Hatem Azrui said that the female employee has been rushed to Totanji Hospital.

“We are following up on the incident and on our employee who is expected to recover soon,” Azrui told The Jordan Times.

The ministry spokesperson said that the initial investigation suggested that the employee was attacked by a woman and “it seems she fell and injured herself”.

Azrui said that the nurse filed a complaint to authorities about the incident.

Azrui condemned the alleged assault on the lab technician, saying “there is no justification for attacks that occur against public employees regardless of the reasons”.

“The ministry rejects any attack on its employees and does not accept any justification for any attack. If anyone has objections or remarks regarding the services, they can reach out to us at the ministry or any of our health institutions,” Azrui stressed. 

There were over 70 assault cases against medical staff in the first eight months of last year, Jordan Medical Association President Ali Obous said in an interview with The Jordan Times in recent months.

The punishment of assault or threats to public sector employees while they are on duty or in relation to their professional is a minimum of six months imprisonment term, according to the new Penal Code that was published in the Official Gazette in November.

AMMAN — Public transport fares are to be increased by 10 per cent as of Wednesday, under a decision adopted by Land Transport Regulatory Commission (LTRC) Director General Salah Lozi on Sunday.

The decision covers medium and large public buses and all taxis, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Lozi said that the decision was made after the LTRC studied all changes related to fuel prices and inflation rates that placed additional burdens on operators through hikes in operational costs and a decrease in revenues, which in turn negatively affected the quality of service due to negligence of maintenance issues, Petra reported.

He noted that the commission was late in announcing the new tariffs due to change in the pricing process that affects rate amendment accredited by the LTRC, according to Petra.

The last increase in transport fares was in December of 2016, a 10 per cent hike that covered all public transport means regardless of the type of fuel used in the vehicle.

The LTRC is responsible for the transport sector and providing incentives to operators, as well as boosting investments.

The transport sector accounts for 26 per cent of the gross domestic product, and investments related to it are “large and fruitful” Lozi said in previous remarks, noting that some of the challenges facing the sector are due to the fact that operators tend to be individuals rather than companies.

AMMAN — The government’s fuel pricing committee on Saturday decided to raise the prices of unleaded 90-octane gasoline and diesel by JD0.015 per litre and unleaded 95-octane gasoline by JD0.025 as of Sunday.

The committee also decided to maintain the price of kerosene at JD0.520 per litre and the price of gas cylinders at JD7, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

The price of one litre of unleaded 90-octane gasoline will go up during February to JD0.765, up by 2 per cent from January’s price that stood at JD0.750 per litre.

The price of unleaded 95-octane gasoline will mark a 2.5-per cent increase, selling at JD1 per litre, compared to JD0.975 last month.

The price of diesel will increase to JD0.565 per litre, up by 2.7 per cent, compared to JD0.550 in January.

Despite the price hike of kerosene in the international market, the committee decided to maintain its local prices at JD0.520 per litre.

Regarding gas cylinders, the panel said it maintained the local price despite the increase on international rates to JD9.23.

The committee attributed such decisions of maintaining prices to a government procedure that aims at alleviating burdens off low-income segments and in line with domestic economic conditions.

Prices of oil derivatives in the local market are calculated based on international prices, with the addition of other costs such as shipment, handling and taxes.

The committee said that it referred to international oil prices, which showed that the cost of a barrel of crude Brent oil went up to $69.23 in January compared to $64.19 in December, Petra reported.

All derivatives are subject to a JD0.006 stamp fee, in addition to other fixed fees related to transport, storage and insurance.

DEAD SEA — “We have to realise that much of the learning today takes place outside the school, so we must use technology, applied learning and creativity,” said Education Minister Omar Razzaz on Friday at the Jordan Agenda Conference 2018 held at the Dead Sea. 

Government officials and educators diagnosed various problems affecting the quality of Jordan’s education at the session “Human Resources and Education: What Do We Want?” organised by the Centre for Strategic Studies (CSS) at the University of Jordan.

“We need to make sure that students love their school and actually enjoy it,” Razzaz told The Jordan Times at the event adding “that’s code for: A lot needs to be done.”

The education minister proposed changes to the school environment, teacher training and curriculum. 

“If we enforce schools to adopt only one kind of curriculum, it will crush the creative soul of the student,” said Razzaz. 

Member of Parliament Haifa Najjar called for creating an environment where “good citizens” are made by inviting “rational, emotional, social and creative dimensions” into the education system. 

Razzaz spoke about the ministry’s new emphasis on activities, where 20 per cent of the class week is devoted to sports, boy scouts, civics and music. 

“What we’re offering is very instrumental in growth and development, and these subjects will be completely optional for the student” explained Razzaz adding: “Not every student will enjoy music or sports but we need to provide them with the menu of activities that help build character and help the students identify what their passions are.”

Cooperation with the Higher Education Ministry and reforms to the Tawjihi National Exam were also brought up in the session. 

“We are changing the national Tawjihi exam so it reflects students’ capability. It will measure the students’ critical thinking skills as opposed to rote memorisation and work with the Higher Education Ministry to ensure that there are different criteria — not just the grade average — that allows a student to enter a specific field,” said Razzaz. 

During the debate on university education, participant and youth advocate Sami Hourani asked about endowments and university-administered funding to students. 

“One of the priorities of universities in Jordan is financial independence,” said University of Jordan’s President Azmi Mahafzah. 

“The concept of endowment is missing in Jordan,” Hourani stressed adding: Getting private sector endowments improves the quality of the universities, and once the quality of education is improved, graduates will have a feeling of loyalty to the university and will want to donate money and give back.”

AMMAN — The water distribution programme in Amman and Zarqa will be slightly disrupted next week, as the Jordan Water Company (Miyahuna) will start maintenance on the Disi Water Conveyance Project, a Miyahuna official said on Saturday.

Less water will be pumped to Amman and Zarqa subscribers starting next Sunday when Miyahuna will start scheduled maintenance on the Disi project, which conveys 100mcm annually from the southern Disi aquifer, the company's official said.

The company carries out maintenance for the mega project during winter, when water demand is lower than in the hot season, the official said, noting that maintenance on the project will last four days between February 11 and 14.

"The water distribution programme will not, of course, be completely suspended for subscribers of Amman and Zarqa between these days. However, subscribers will receive less water," the official noted.

The subscribers will receive reduced water and experience shortened pumping hours during the maintenance period, the official said.

Under the water distribution programme, households across the Kingdom receive water once during a certain period, usually between 7 to 10 days, on a rotating basis. Scarce water resources in the country compelled the Kingdom to initiate the programme in the early 1980s to conserve limited resources whilst ensuring a sustainable supply of water.

As the company planned to suspend water pumping from the Disi project for four days, it filled it reservoirs in Amman and Zarqa to avoid water cuts during its maintenance work on the Disi project, according to the official.

A company’s statement indicated that the company will operate all of its water resources at full capacity to compensate for the suspension in water supply from the Disi project.

The Disi project conveys fossil water from the Disi aquifer in southern Jordan to the capital via a 325-kilometre pipeline. The project started pumping water to Amman in 2013.

Miyahuna has 600,000 subscribers in Amman and 150,000 subscribers in Zarqa.