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AMMAN — "I believe that the spread of myths and rumours in the fields of science, culture, religion, medicine and history destroys our minds and our critical thinking,” said Moath Al Taher, founder of Fatabyyano, an online platforms that seeks to produce and spread informed and evidence based knowledge to combat “fake news”.

Disturbed by one of his close relatives’ death when he was a child, Taher recalled how uninformed and misled he was at the time. “I remember the number of fake information, deceptive rumours and myths that were told to my relative and our family," he told The Jordan Times on Monday, noting that this pushed him to start the platform.

With more than 500,000 fans on its Facebook page, Fatabyyano also counts over 3 million views on some of its "Fatabyyano Show" videos on YouTube. 

While it mainly targets news in Arabic, Fatabayyno also provides content in six other languages, through the work of its 35-member team, which includes researchers, academics, media people, and web developers, among others.

“We all hate myths, violent behaviours and ideologies fed by ignorance and think it is only possible to bring change through critical thinking and by giving youth opportunities to raise their voice," Taher said, noting that "we strive to give the Arab minds the chance to know, learn and verify".

Stressing the need to combat fake news through content verification, he encourages the use of reason, intellectual skills and data based evidence to provide reliable news sources for Jordanians and people of the Arab world.

"Fake news" is a type of journalism or propaganda consisting of deliberate misinformation or hoaxes spread through various media outlets. Fake news are written and published with the intent to mislead in order to damage an agency, entity, or person, and to obtain financial or political gains, according to online sources.

Fatabyyano has already aroused the interest of several world famous institutions, including the Harvard University which invited the Jordanian platform to their annual conference as one of the best projects for 2016 in the Arab world. It was also honoured by Her Majesty Queen Rania as one of the most creative youth projects for 2016 in the Expo2017.

Taher recently returned from Safirlab, a social innovation incubator held in Paris, after Fatabyyano was recognised by the French embassy in Amman as one of the top three “Most Successful Youth Projects” in Jordan.

His plan for the future is to expand the outreach of the platform, through a partnership with ZEDNI, an Arabic educational network aimed at developing the curricula to improve educational outcomes in the Arab region.

AMMAN — The Jordan Academy of Arabic celebrated the World Arabic Language Day on Monday in an event that brought together academicians and students involved in the preservation and promotion of the language. 

Every year on December 18, Arabic is celebrated worldwide as a medium for scientific and cultural progress. The day was established by UNESCO in 2010 to commemorate the recognition of Arabic as an official and working language of the UN on December 18, 1973. 

 “The Arabic language has given rise to a fascinating aesthetic and it gives access to an incredible variety of identities and beliefs and its history reveals the richness of its links with other languages,” said Audrey Azoulay, director general of UNESCO, in a statement issued on the occasion.  

“This is our national language, it represents our identity,” Eid Dahiyat, a senior member of the academy, told The Jordan Times. 

However, academicians are worried about the status of Arabic and the negative influence of foreign languages as well as the new phenomenon of "Arabizi" — the jargon that young people use to communicate online by mixing numbers and letters. 

“We are deeply concerned about the status of Arabic in Arab countries. Unfortunately, people tend to speak in English, French or other languages, and forget their own,” stressed Dahiyat. 

During the event, discussions were held over topics such as "Arabisation", which means the adoption of concepts from other languages and their translation into Arabic. 

“The Arabic language was neglected and did not develop like other languages and still faces problems related to syntax and grammar that need to be solved, especially for teaching purposes,” explained the academician. 

The event also highlighted the need to protect the language and the initiatives that the Jordan Academy of Arabic is carrying out. Among them feature the adaptation of the language to the requirements of modern science and art as well as the current knowledge society, the development of scientific terminology and its standardisation as well as the revival of Arab and Islamic heritage. 

“Protecting the Arabic language needs a political decision,” said Dahiyat, who believes that teachers and professors should lecture in proper Arabic as a way to preserve it. 

During the celebration, the academy honoured the best initiatives and campaigns carried out in the Kingdom to protect Arabic. 

One of the awardees was the Aber Sabeel (Wayfarer) initiative, carried out by a group of students from the Hashemite University lead by Professor Raida Akuzhia. 

“We encourage people to read and use the Arabic language in every aspect of their life,” Mohannad Jaber, a member of the team, told The Jordan Times. 

Jaber explained that they will use the JD500 cash award to expand the teaching of and raise awareness about the language and culture, encouraging its study by new generations.

“We have a huge responsibility on our shoulders,” said Dahiyat, adding that the Arabic language remains stagnant and with many problems that need to be solved. “There is a challenge and we should live up to it,” said the academician. 

Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world with 422 million speakers, according to the United Nations. With over 290 million native speakers and 132 million as second language speakers, it is also the language for over 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide. 

AMMAN — The Higher Council for Population (HCP) on Monday published the outcomes of a study on integrating vocational work values in school textbooks, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The study, which was jointly prepared by HCP and the Education Ministry with the support of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for West Asia (ESCWA), aimed at enhancing the concept of vocational work for future generations, in a way that benefits from the demographic change Jordan is witnessing, as the Kingdom is expected to live the peak of its population opportunity in 2020. 

The outcomes of the study, which was launched in the presence of Education Minister Omar Razzaz and representatives of relevant national institutions, showed that some schools do not have the suitable infrastructure to implement vocational training activities.

The results, which were reviewed by main researcher Ghaleb Azzeh, showed that creativity concepts were the least recurrent in schools curricula, noting that creativity, entrepreneurship and vocational work concepts were either not mentioned in the curricula, or not mentioned enough.

Razzaz highlighted the importance of instilling the culture of creativity and entrepreneurship in future generations, noting that the ministry is currently considering implementing several supporting initiatives, such as inserting applied and out-of-curriculum activities.

HCP Secretary General Maisoun Zu’bi said that Jordan enjoys qualified and trained human resources that can enhance the Kingdom’s economic and social development, which can be reached through the delivery of proper education.

For her part, Sara Salman, head of the population affairs at ESCWA, said that the commission’s contribution to this study is part of a project titled “Empowerment of national abilities to develop comprehensive population policies in the Arab region”.

The study covered the vocational educational, national and civil education and the financial culture curricula for several grades.

AMMAN — HRH Prince Rashed, head of the Special Police Unit, on Monday met with a student delegation from the NATO Defence College, headed by its commandant Lt. Gen. Chris Whitecross at the Royal Jordanian National Defence College.

In a lecture after the meeting, Prince Rashed highlighted the Kingdom’s important regional and international role in the fight against terrorism, extremism and crime, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The prince also went over the role of the Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army and security agencies in fighting terrorism and safeguarding borders. 

AMMAN — Deputising for Her Majesty Queen Rania, Education Minister Omar Razzaz on Monday attended the annual ceremony of the British Council to honour students of the British certificate who won the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education 2017.

The annual ceremony, which has been held since 2003, honours Jordanian students of the British certificate who achieved high grades at the local and international levels in the international examination certificate, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Amira Manna, head of exams at the British Council, said that the council supports the British programme in Jordan through the Partner Schools Global Network initiative that aims at providing support through holding training, events and conferences. 

AMMAN — HRH Princess Sanaa Asem on Monday inaugurated a social support centre at the Queen Rania Al Abdullah Hospital for Children, as part of the “Chance to Learn” programme.

The centre seeks to offer social support for children who stay for long periods at the hospital, through play halls that contribute in alleviating their suffering, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Imad Fakhoury said that the project is also essential in giving children a chance to continue their education while at hospital, adding that the play halls make the treatment place more acceptable and comfortable for them.

Royal Medical Services Director General Maj. Gen. Muin Habashneh said that the project is part of a programme to turn the hospital into a specialised venue that interacts with the local community in education and training.

AMMAN — Higher Education Minister Adel Tweisi on Monday announced that the ministry is working on launching an electronic equivalence service for certificates obtained outside Jordan, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Tweisi said in a press statement that anyone can submit an application for equivalence, from any location in the world, download the documents, and send them to the ministry through an electronic system to obtain equivalence.

The service, which will be available on the ministry’s website (www.mohe.gov.jo) will also provide the applicant with regular updates through texts and online messages. The ministry will also offer an electronic payment service, where the students will be able to pay their fees online.

AMMAN — The Court of Cassation on Monday upheld an October Criminal Court ruling sentencing a 26-year-old Bangladeshi domestic worker to death after convicting her of murdering an elderly couple in Irbid in March, a senior judicial source said.

“The Court of Cassation's five members finished examining the case and upheld the death sentence after establishing that the Criminal Court followed the proper procedures when issuing its sentence,” the senior judicial source told The Jordan Times.

The Criminal Court convicted the woman on two counts of premeditated murder for bludgeoning to death an 87-year-old man and his wife, 84, with a small axe as they were sleeping in their home in Irbid on March 24.

Court papers said the defendant arrived to the Kingdom on March 18 to work for the elderly couple.

“The defendant decided that she did not want to work for the couple because they were old and decided to kill them,” according to court papers.

On the day of the murder, the court maintained, the defendant “brought a small axe and struck the victims who were asleep”.

Fearing she might be exposed, the court maintained, she changed her clothes and cleaned herself.

“She also hit herself with the axe, locked herself in the bathroom and started screaming for help and later claimed that an intruder murdered the couple and attacked her,” according to court transcripts.

AMMAN — Health Minister Mahmoud Sheyyab on Monday headed a meeting for the national committee to combat plagues, to discuss the increasing number of seasonal flu cases in the Kingdom.

Head of the panel and secretary general of the ministry, Layl Fayez, said that the ministry is applying all necessary procedures to deal with the seasonal flu, including the H1N1 pattern, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Members of the committee called on the public to avoid crowded places that lack proper ventilation, refrain from using others’ personal effects and to wash hands properly with soap.

AMMAN — The Energy and Minerals Regulatory Commission (EMRC) on Sunday announced rejecting a shipment of radioactively contaminated spare parts, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported on Monday.

The shipment, which arrived at Aqaba port, was returned to the country of origin after EMRC personnel discovered that the shipment contained Caesium-137 and Caesium-134. Until November 2017, the commission conducted 1.5 million tests on imports at 49 testing gates in 11 air, sea and land ports, according to Petra.