Minister of Culture announces ‘ambitious’ realignment towards youth

AMMAN — Questioning where and how culture and youth fall into the government’s priorities is of massive importance, as they are essential in the development of other major aspects and tools for combating serious crises, Minister of Culture and Youth Mohammad Abu Rumman said on Wednesday.

"Culture has been at the bottom of priorities for a long time, although it has a sovereign and foremost role in other countries," Abu Rumman added, stressing the necessity of implementing a parallel cultural reform project to help achieve other priorities.

People’s overall justified "negative" mood about the financial situation is, in fact, a "state of uncertainty" due to the regression of the cultural and moral powers, the minister noted during an open discussion held at the Jordan Press Association.

He cited existing practices, such as nepotism and intermediary (wasta), as bullying the state of law, in addition to other cultural challenges, such as the declining sense of national identity and conflicts between various political and intellectual streams.

However, the minister stressed that the broad "pessimistic" view of youth as lost and unemployed was not true, as there are many motivated young people who are eager to create a change in their societies, they only need a chance.

The discussion’s moderator, Ramzi Al Ghazwi, said that there were thousands of youth initiatives that were launched to seek material aid or fame, but they died the moment their founders achieved their goals. 

The minister noted that the current youth initiatives and programmes lack three main components — partnership, integration and organisation — which are essential to creating a joint, well-planned and effective roadmap. He also stressed the importance of working in the governorates and marginalised areas and not just focusing on the capital.

The role of the Ministry of Culture, according to Abu Rumman, is now shifting focus from supporting only the intellectual segments of the society, into involving and engaging the entire society, mainly through establishing a "National Cultural Charter".

He cited some of the ministry’s main plans of the coming phase, including revitalising existing centres with engaging activities, the launch of cultural competitions, establishing reading clubs in youth centres and partnerships with leading cultural institutions, such as the Abdul Hameed Shoman Foundation to implement effective programmes.

On the situation of youth, the minister said that they will focus on the 192 youth centres spread across the Kingdom, which he cited as a valuable resource that was not well-utilised as some of them were stagnant and not working.

He pledged that the centres would become incubators for youth initiatives, offer training and creative programmes and foster youth parliaments and shadow councils to prepare adolescents for participation in political life.

He also announced the ministry's goal of organising an Olympiad for schools at the district level and the national level. 

The audience commended the "ambitious and promising" plans, but questioned the budget available to achieve all of it in light of the current financial circumstances.

"We know that the culture budget is humble," the minister said, noting, "We are in the process of restructuring expenses and re-evaluating the feasibility of the current programmes so as to shift and divide the expenses according to our priorities."

Answering a question on how to link and rebuild the gap of trust between the target group and the ministry’s activities, Abu Rumman said that there would be media campaigns to introduce governmental programmes and encourage the effective participation of citizens.