Visually impaired PhD holders demand jobs at public universities

AMMAN — Six visually impaired PhD holders have been staging sit-ins around Amman demanding employment as lecturers in Jordanian public universities since the beginning of this year. 

Fuad Shajrawi, a PhD holder, told The Jordan Times on Monday that the People with Disabilities' Law for 2017 stipulates that 4 per cent of vacancies should be designated for people with disabilities, and thus they believe it is their right to be employed as lecturers after obtaining their PhDs. 

"Three of us majored in the Arabic language, two in Sharia majors and I majored in Teaching English methods," Shajrawi said, adding that the law is not actually applied, and that they also demand actual implementation of the law.

The first sit-in was held on January 30, 2019, Shajrawi said, noting that since then they have been in touch with the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the Higher Education Ministry, the Prime Ministry and committees in Parliament, but to no avail. 

"During our sit-ins throughout the year, several vacancies at public universities have been announced and some of us applied but were not accepted," he said.

For his part, the higher council's Secretary General Muhanned Azzeh told The Jordan Times that the six PhD holders have met with HH Prince Mired, president of the council, who attempted to contact Jordanian universities to help them but the response was that there were no vacancies.

"The positions are competitive and they compete with other applicants normally. The university eventually picks someone for the position, so we have no authority that can force a university to pick them over others," Azzeh said, adding "their majors are oversaturated in those universities".

Azzeh said that it is true that 4 per cent of the vacancies should be designated to people with disabilities, but the positions are not limited to the academic staff but extend to management and other job roles, and so some universities might have already met the percentage.

"We have met with presidents of some universities, and they are actually hiring professors part-time because many of them have deteriorating economic conditions, and so this is not restricted to people with disabilities but affects all PhD holders," Azzeh added.

Shajrawi said that he believes that in spite of the anti-discrimination-law, "there is actually discrimination against us, because we have worked hard to get our PhDs and there are many examples of visually impaired professors who are doing a great job, but it seems that universities are not hiring us because of the disability".

"We are working as teachers in public schools with the Education Ministry but this is not our place after all that we have done, I believe we deserve to be promoted and become university professors, and with the four per cent of vacancies that are designated to people with disabilities under the law, there has to be a possibility for employment at universities for us," he concluded.