Mafraq, Dec. 10 (Petra)-Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education for Administrative and Financial Affairs, Dr. Sahar Shakhatreh, said the ministry has replaced 50 leased public schools this year as part of its plan to reduce reliance on rented buildings and provide a suitable learning environment equipped with the best specifications.
The announcement came during her inauguration on Wednesday of Zuhour Secondary School for Boys and Girls in Mafraq governorate, which was built with funding from the German Development Bank (KfW) at a cost of JD2.7 million.
Talking at the inauguration ceremony, Shakhatreh added that these school buildings provided with the support of His Majesty King Abdullah II, under international partnerships and the ministry's budget, which increased the number of schools and contributed to eliminating the need for rented buildings and solving the problem of classroom overcrowding.
Shakhatreh noted this school represents a "new milestone" in cooperation with international partners, meets the "highest" educational requirements, and serves students from kindergarten through high school, with a capacity of 1,090 students, including 270 Syrian students.
Shakhatreh said this new school enabled the Ministry of Education to dispense with the rented building of Zuhour Basic School and discontinue the two-shift system, which "positively impacted the provision of a safe and stimulating school environment." In turn, the German Ambassador to Amman, Bertram von Moltke, stated that Germany provides assistance to the Ministry of Education to build schools nationwide, noting Zuhour Mixed Secondary School is part of a program to build 11 schools.
The diplomat referred to another program implemented by the German government that will pay salaries of teachers in 200 schools for teaching Syrian students in the afternoon.
Moltke said onstruction of this new school contributed to eliminating the rented building, as well as ending the two-shift system, which has a "positive impact on students, including a number of Syrian students who have integrated with Jordanian students in the morning." The school provides 28 classrooms, computer and science labs, a vocational workshop, a library, and a multi-purpose hall and is the second in Mafraq to be funded by the German Development Bank (KfW).
//Petra// AG
