Syndicate reports more attacks on teachers, renews call for action

AMMAN — One teacher was injured after a student started hurling rocks at a Jerash school on Tuesday, Jordan Teachers Association said.

The 14-year-old student started throwing rocks after teachers stopped him from hitting another student, JTA Spokesperson Ayman Okour said. 

The JTA has recorded more than 39 assaults on teachers during the first half of 2015, with only 10 per cent of the cases referred to court, a sharp spike from the 25 cases recorded during the same period last year.

“The student is known as a troublemaker. He was transferred from the school in question after disciplinary action taken against him last year and came back to cause harm today,” he told The Jordan Times.

The injured teacher reported the incident, according to Okour, who reiterated the association’s calls on the government to shoulder its responsibilities in protecting educators.

“Stiffer penalties against assailants would definitely reduce such incidents,” he said.

Also on Tuesday, students at Jabbeh Secondary School for Boys attacked the car of a teacher and broke its windows. No injuries were reported, according to the JTA, which called for holding the assailants accountable. 

Firearms, clubs and cleavers have been used in the attacks, which sometimes took the  form of mob raids this year, according to the statement.

JTA President Hussam Masheh has previously claimed that the number of attacks during the first half of this year indicates that no one is seriously working to address the problem, which, he said, threatens the education institution in its entirety.

In May this year, the ministry filed a lawsuit against those Ramtha residents who assaulted teachers at Al Miqdad Bin Al Aswad School, injuring one of them, and condemned the continued attacks on teachers and educators.