King orders cash handouts to public, army-run school students

AMMAN — Following directives of His Majesty King Abdullah, the Cabinet on Wednesday decided to disburse JD20 to each Jordanian student in public and military schools, with payments up to JD100 for students from the same family.

The Education Ministry will distribute the money to all students through a bank whose name will be announced once the ministry finishes preparing student lists, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported, adding that disbursement will continue throughout the academic year.

The Council of Ministers, in the session chaired by Deputy Prime Minister for Services and Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat, upon Royal directives, also decided to exempt all public school students from fees of the scholastic year.

These two decisions aim to help the students' families meet the basic requirements of the new academic year which coincides with Eid Al Adha, Petra reported. 

Around 1.85 million students will start the new academic year on Thursday in around 7,000 public, private, military and UNRWA-run schools across the Kingdom. 

Thneibat has ordered the establishment of an operations room to follow up on schools’ preparations for the new scholastic year, the Arabic daily Al Rai reported. 

Education directorates across Jordan are expected to provide the ministry with daily reports on the overall situation of schools in terms of the teaching staff, school premises, books and equipment. 

The Civil Defence Department (CDD) on Wednesday issued a statement listing some preventive measures on the occasion of the new academic year, to be followed by schools to maintain safety of students.

The CDD called for implementing periodic maintenance of all school facilities, including doors, windows, desks and drinking water tanks, according to a CDD statement.

The department called on supervisors of school canteens to deal only with restaurants that are licensed by the Health Ministry and those that follow strict hygiene practices.

Other measures to be followed include implementing periodic maintenance to electrical wiring, and ensuring that all wires are covered to avoid electric shocks, according to the statement.