The Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education, Azmi Muhafaza, said on Sunday that the absence of students from face-to-face education had a very bad effect on education, and it was not limited to Jordanians only.

The minister explained, through the “Voice of the Kingdom” program, that experts estimate the time required to treat and compensate for the educational loss at more than 10 years. The minister said that private schools do not complain about the educational loss that “we complain about.”

Last week, the Ministry announced the school calendar for the next academic year for government schools, military culture schools, and UNRWA schools, based on the national plan for the treatment program, which requires the implementation of procedures aimed at treating students’ educational loss.

According to the calendar, there is a reduction in the upcoming summer and winter holidays, in light of the presence of a “very large and disturbing educational loss” and the need to address it by extending the next academic year. The next academic year will be subject to an increase of two weeks in the first semester, and two weeks in the second semester.

The minister explained that the basic principle in dealing with the educational loss is to increase the number of teaching hours, and in the next academic year, studies will begin on August 20 and end on May 26, and therefore the full period is 217 days, and without exams, the number of actual school days is 191 days.

He stated that “private schools are free to follow this system or not…” and indicated that there is no evidence of a large educational loss in private schools.

The minister talked about the existence of “educational poverty” in Jordan before 2019, and he is known as the fourth-grade student’s inability to read and comprehend a small paragraph, and the educational poverty rate was approximately 52.5%; This percentage is close to the Middle East and North Africa region.
In addition, more than half of the students had a clear educational weakness according to international standards and according to international tests, and in the Corona pandemic, schools were suspended, whether partially or completely.
A study was conducted by UNICEF last year on more than 800,000 students in Jordan, and USAID conducted a study on a sample of about 30,000 students, and the results of these studies confirmed the existence of a very large educational loss.

The minister referred to 13 measures to address educational loss, including preparing special papers that support the curriculum, directing special activities and initiatives to the least vulnerable schools, training teachers on new teaching methods, exploiting students themselves through students who excel in teaching, and using platforms and clubs, and this strategy is for three years. the least.

There will be worksheets in mathematics, Arabic, and other subjects to treat educational loss. These papers are necessary for the student to be able to follow the curriculum for the class in which he is studying.