Germany donates mobile units for school maintenance

AMMAN — The Ministry of Education on Sunday received 16 mobile units from the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) to carry out maintenance work in school buildings, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The mobile units were also provided with maintenance tools to help complete restoration projects in schools' infrastructure at a minimum cost.

The "mobile maintenance units", according to the German embassy, aim at supporting and training the public maintenance teams, in German “hausmeisters”, to repair the buildings and furniture of public schools across the Kingdom.  

Minister of Education Omar Razzaz stressed the ministry's commitment to investing to enhance the infrastructure of schools and adding more school buildings and furniture annually, Petra reported.

For her part, German Ambassador to Jordan Birgitta Siefker-Eberle underscored the importance of the infrastructure maintenance work in schools, especially in light of the burden placed upon this sector due to the Syrian refugee crisis and the increasing number of students in public schools.

She praised Jordan's efforts in providing public education for more students by offering evening shifts in 200 schools, allowing nearly 130,000 Syrian students to enroll in public schools, according to Petra.

For its part, GIZ said it will continue supporting Jordan in the educational sector by building more schools, carrying out maintenance work, and developing comprehensive vocational and technical education.

The German ambassador highlighted the historic and continued cooperation between Germany and Jordan, citing the agency's expansion of the Laboratory Equipment Centre in the 1980s, when GIZ provided them with the needed tools and equipment for maintenance work.