‘165 children helped by initiative to end violence in East Amman schools’

AMMAN — The Ruwwad Al Tanmeya organisation on Sunday celebrated the conclusion of a campaign that brought 54 mothers together to tackle violence at schools in east Amman.

Volunteers, students and trainers gathered at Al Hussein Cultural Centre to celebrate the success of the local community in protecting children from physical and verbal violence in 12 schools.

The “For your sake” campaign, organised by Ruwwad Al Tanmeya in cooperation with the Justice Centre for Legal Aid (JCLA), brought together 54 mothers who helped 165 children who had suffered violence in schools, Ruwwad Al Tanmeya said in a statement.

At the cultural centre, JCLA Director Hadeel Abdul Aziz said violence against children in schools was criminalised “not only in international law, but also in Jordanian law, where causing harm is considered a felony”.

Basma Abu Hammad, a mother who was part of the campaign, shared a story about a student who hated school because his teacher refused to let him go to the restroom, so he spent a school day in wet clothes.

“We decided to end the torture with which our children live… and to save their dignity,” Abu Hammad said.

Um Islam said her 12-year-old son was hit by his teacher because he reached beneath his desk to find his pen.

He suffered pains in his ear which required a hospital visit, and the doctor said the pain was the result of the teacher’s violence.

Through the campaign, the boy’s medical report was shown to the school principal, who discovered that many children had been hit by the teacher, Um Islam said.

The teacher pledged to stop hitting students “but they were abused by other teachers”, said Um Islam.

The initiative achieved 48 successful interventions, and also handled cases of teachers slamming students against walls or desks, threatening to fail them and insulting them.

“Violence is a misuse of power that breaks trust,” said Samar Dudin, the regional director and head of programmes at Ruwwad Al Tanmeya.

Founded in 2005 by Aramex CEO Fadi Ghandour and a group of Jordanian entrepreneurs, Ruwwad Al Tanmeya is a nonprofit community development organisation that works across the region in child development, youth organising and community support, according to its website.