‘Tension’ with teachers association not from ministry — Thneibat

AMMAN — The Jordan Teachers Association (JTA) has the jurisdiction to participate in enhancing the education process but does not have the authority to take part in taking administrative decisions, under the law, Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat said Sunday.

At a meeting on the education sector held by the Lower House’s Education Committee and attended by Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour and several ministers and officials, Thneibat said the “tension” in the relationship between the ministry and the JTA is not on the part of the ministry, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

Noting that there is a coordination committee with members from both sides, the minister said the JTA does not attend the panel’s meetings.

Thneibat also discussed several issues related to the education sector, including the unified ministry exams for sixth and ninth graders.

The minister said the exams were experimental, aimed at assessing the teaching and learning environment in general.

He stressed that those found involved in leaking test papers will be held accountable.

The ministry held the unified exams in English, Arabic, science and maths, in a bid to measure students’ abilities and identify any weaknesses. 

While 320,000 sixth and ninth graders were sitting for their first unified Arabic and English exams, copies of the test papers went viral on news websites and social media networks.

Officials have said in previous remarks that the ministry will be able to identify the schools that are involved in leaking the exam papers through analysing the results of students in each school and to what extent they match the model answers.

Schools are responsible for giving students 60 per cent of their grades based on their own tests, while 40 per cent will be based on the ministry’s tests.

Thneibat said at the meeting that the ministry has managed to restore the authority of the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination (Tawjihi) by regulating its procedures and preventing any violations such as widespread cheating, according to Petra.

He cited the drop in recorded violations as proof of the ministry’s success.

The Tawjihi summer session concluded late last month with an 88 per cent drop in violations compared to previous sessions, according to the ministry.

In previous remarks, the minister said 750 violations were recorded this session, whereas 6,000 violations were recorded in the 2014 winter session.