No intention to remove university admission exceptions — minister

AMMAN — The Ministry of Higher Education has neither the willingness nor the authority to freeze or cancel the tribal exception list, granted by a Royal Decree, Minister Labib Khadra said Wednesday.

At a meeting with the press, he said Jordan's education and higher education systems at this stage do not allow removing the exception list system due to “uneven educational development levels across the Kingdom”.

However, university seats allocated to tribes outside the competition system were meant to be temporary in the first place to respond to the urgent educational needs in rural areas and the badia, but now they are wrongly being used, according to the minister.

During a Lower House session on Tuesday, a number of MPs protested an assumed cancellation of exceptions in university admissions, an issue Khadra denied and expressed “shock” at their reaction.

Meanwhile, he said the ministry will soon start reviewing the criteria of distrusting the longtime exceptions granted to tribes allowing their children to enrol in public universities to ensure justice in education opportunities.

First of all, the list must only include public schools with difficult conditions, he said, noting that the existing list currently includes schools in very vibrant areas at the heart of some major cities in the Kingdom, according to Khadra, who added that the makruma (Royal initiative) was aimed in the first place at helping students in faraway, underdeveloped areas.

A list of underprivileged schools included in the tribal exception system for this year was published in Wednesday’s issue of Al Rai newspaper, showing a number of public schools located in some Amman neighbourhoods inhabited by well-off families. 

Khadra said the reassessment would consider allowing students competing for seats allocated for tribes, who have achieved high scores in the General Secondary Certificate Examinations, to study medicine and dentistry, two fields that would boost development levels in underprivileged areas.

The official cited “more transparent” procedures in enrolling student under the other categories of the makruma, including children of military personnel, children of teachers and students from Palestinian refugee camps.

Of the total annual admissions at state universities, 20 per cent of the seats are allocated for children of military personnel, 5 per cent for children of teachers, 10 per cent for graduates of schools that are classified as “underprivileged”, 350 seats are for students from Palestinian refugee camps and 15 seats are allocated for children of fallen soldiers, according to ministry figures.