Princess Basma visits education centre for working children, school dropouts

AMMAN – HRH Princess Basma on Tuesday visited the Social Support Centre in the capital, where she was briefed on its activities and programmes. 

Established in 2008 by the Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development, the centre seeks to positively motivate working children, school dropouts and stay-at-home girls between the ages of 7 and 17. 

The facility, which currently serves 370 children, also implements programmes in cooperation with UNICEF to support the education of children between the ages of 7 and 12 who have left school. 

Princess Basma met with a number of beneficiaries and listened to their success stories, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported. 

Among them was Nabil, who managed to pass the 10th grade equivalence certificate through the centre, and to then enrol in the Vocational Training Corporation as a culinary arts trainee.

“I left school after suffering bullying and having to work under harsh conditions. The centre gave me a new lease on life,” Nabil said. 

In addition to psychological and educational support, the centre has been working to raise the awareness of children and their families to the dangers of child labour. 

It has managed to move 84 beneficiaries from the labour market to schools and offer 331 work opportunities to its graduates by networking with recruitment companies, Petra reported.