Ministry to sue school owners syndicate

AMMAN — The Education Ministry on Thursday said it would sue the Private School Owners Association for publishing "misleading" facts amid a showdown between the association and the educational authorities.

In a statement received by The Jordan Times, the ministry noted that the association has circulated "false" information on the number of schools that are expected to close down under the new regulations, saying that "many" school owners have underlined that they are not members of the association and that it does not represent them.

A by-law approved by the Cabinet last December entails provisions related to the physical environment of private schools, the number of students and specifications of school yards.

Under the regulations, which went into effect this year, private schools are required to address any violations related to their buildings, including the need to vacate premises that are deemed residential and the necessity of having indoor yards.

Schools should also calculate the number of students they are allowed to accept based on their area in square metres, making sure that each student has an area of one-square-metre  in  classrooms and two square metres in the yard.

Association President Munther Sourani described the ministry’s move as “unfortunate”.

“The ministry is failing to acknowledge our suffering or contain the issue by listening to our point of view”, he told The Jordan Times on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the association claimed that the by-law would result in closing down 75 per cent of private schools and kindergartens across the Kingdom, and letting go of more than 100,000 students, 12,000 teachers and other staff.

Sourani noted that authorities have allowed schools to operate for a long time without having indoor yards or forcing them to limit the number of students according to their size, noting that there are currently 600,000 private school students in Jordan.

However, the Education Ministry expressed its “shock” over the association’s stance towards the by-law, saying that it would not be applied retroactively on schools licenced according to the old regulations.

“Contrary to what the Private School Owners Association claims, private schools that do not violate the old regulations will not have to change anything or face legal trouble, the ministry said in a statement sent to The Jordan Times on Wednesday.

The statement also added that the ministry has granted private education institutions with a record of violations two years to rectify their situation, particularly when it comes to the physical environment and their capacity.

Sourani charged that the ministry’s private education department has stopped granting licences to schools since June last year, which resulted in having 250 illegally operating private educational institutions, including kindergartens.

However, the ministry disputed such claims, saying that it approved the licencing of 45 privately-run schools.

The ministry also highlighted violations detected by its field inspectors, with the main breaches being related to the number of students and classrooms, teaching international curricula without official approval, teaching materials that are not approved by the education council and having schools in industrial, residential and commercial areas that lack safety requirements.

The ministry accused Sourani of owning one of the violating private schools, while the association leader dismissed these claims.

“They are manipulating facts ...Their argument is weak,” he charged.

The ministry has left it to the judiciary to say the final word.