Jordanian Students Miss Out on Remote Learning While Waiting For
Their Tablets
Awaiting Their Tablets… Unable to Access the e-Platform
180 Thousand Students Miss Out their 1st and 2nd Semesters
When I asked seventh grader Mohammad how he follows up on his school work amid the conditions imposed by the pandemic, he said:
I am so upset! We have missed out on so much school because of Corona. At home we have no internet or even an adequate cell phone. All my friends who live on the same street can access the (Darsak) platform simply because they have internet.
Mohammad attends Um Qusair Elementary School in Al Mugablain, part
of the district of Quwaismeh. He sat next to me as I spoke to his
mother about the reasons why Mohammad and his siblings were not
attending school.
I was warmly welcomed by the 30 year old mother of five orphans in
her rented home in a poor neighbourhood in Al Mugablain.
Mohammad’s mother could not pursue her education after high
school. She seemed embarrassed by the simple furniture of her home
which comprised of a few floor mattresses covering one fourth of
the room’s overall area. In a sad voice she said: “My heart aches
for my five school-aged children. They learned nothing during the
first semester. Nothing at all.” Her youngest daughter, Hiba, is
in first grade, while her eldest daughter, Nada, is in fourth
grade. Like their siblings, both girls have missed out on
schooling since the beginning of the first semester. Nada says:
“The only devise we have at home is my mother’s cell phone, which
is disconnected. My classmates attend classes and submit
assignments, and I wish I could be like them.” She directed her
words at me hoping I would have a magical solution to the problem.
The family’s dilemma began when in-class education was suspended
due to the outbreak of the pandemic. Defence Order No.1 was issued
on March 17, 2020, granting the Prime Minister absolute authority
to suspend or execute any decision as deemed in the country’s
interest during the state of emergency. Soon after, the Ministry
of Education announced that it will turn to a distant electronic
learning system as stipulated by Defence Law No. 7, and later
launched the e-platform (Darsak) on the 22nd of the same month.
Accessing the platform would require an internet connection in
addition to up-to-date cell phones, tablets or laptop computers.
The ministry was aware that these requirements were not available
to a large number of students. An article published on the website
of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship on August
23, 2020 stated that “studies have shown that 12-16% of Jordanian
public school students do not own devices that are connected to
the internet, hence, the government has decided to cover the cost
of purchasing tablets and distribute to underprivileged students
according to a fair criteria.” The number of students in Jordanian
public schools is around 1.5 million, which means that according
to the above percentage, over 180 thousand students were most
probably deprived of attending any classes through (Darsak)
platform.
Tens of thousands of Jordanian students face the same problem as
Mohammad and his siblings. In an attempt to show the extent of
this problem and its implications on the educational level of
students, this report will shed light on the situation of some
students in Al Mugablain who have been unable to attend school
lessons through the (Darsak) platform.
3800 Tablets So Far
The above mentioned government decision indicated that “the
tablets would be purchased in instalments” and that “the tenders
committee in the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship
has been mandated to proceed to negociate, contract and procure
160 thousand tablets that will be distributed among students
mid-January of 2021, which is after the end of the first semester
of the 2020/2021 school year.
The invitation to tender was officially announced in August of
2020, according to the Ministry of Digital Economy and
Entrepreneurship’s spokesperson Shurooq Hilal, who added that
“tablets will be handed over to the Ministry of Education at the
scheduled date.” Hilal also said that both the Ministry of
Education and the Ministry of Digital Economy responded to cases
where tablets were urgently needed which led the former to
expedite the distribution of 3800 tablets, donated by independent
individuals and institutions, among the most underprivileged
students in various directorates. Hilal added that there should
have been a separate independent tender for the purchase of a
smaller number of tablets for a certain category of students.
On May 31, 2020, the Ministry of Education received 1591 tablets
from the Crown Prince Foundation, and in December of 2020, it
received another donation of 7500 tablets from the Department of
Statistics. In a statement published on December 5 on Al Mamlaka
Channel’s website, the ministry’s spokesperson, Abdul Ghafour Al
Quraan, said: “So far, 3176 tablets have been distributed in
several districts.” We asked the ministry a few questions
regarding the number of donated tablets, the number of eligible
students and the criteria upon which the tablets were distributed,
especially in the district of Al Quwaismeh. The answers given by
the ministry were general in nature and did not contain any actual
figures which drove us to seek information from the data published
in various media sources.
In an official statement, the Ministry of Education said it had
“allocated areas that lacked internet service and families who
were financially unable to provide their children with tablet
devices, and launched parallel initiatives to supply these tablets
in cooperation with several governmental institutions and with the
support of the private sector.” It added that “the ministry is
vigilant in ensuring that the tablets reach eligible
underprivileged students who often reside in remote areas of the
Kingdom, and that the ministry’s directorates are responsible for
determining their eligibility in cooperation with schools who are
more informed of their situation on the ground.”
Directorate Conditions
On May 28, 2020, Al Quwaismeh Education Directorate issued an
official memo to all its schools to list the names of students in
need of tablets, and, according to Amal Suwaity, Headmistress of
the Hassaniah Elementary School for Boys, issued a similar memo on
November 22, 2020 asking all school superintendents to provide the
directorates with a list of underprivileged students who had no
income, no access to distant learning devices, whose parents
receive aid from the National Aid Fund, families with three or
more children in school and orphaned students with no form of
support.
According to the spokesperson for the Ministry of Social Affairs,
Najeh Sawalha, the National Aid Fund supplied the Ministry of
Education with a list of benefiting families to provide them with
tablets. The number of eligible families in Al Quwaismeh was 958,
of which 310 resided in Al Mugablain.
During the preparation of this report, the Ministry of Education’s
spokesperson, Abdul Ghafour Al Quraan, stated that the ministry
had supplied the schools in Al Quwaismeh district with 85 tablets
only.
Head of the Department of General Education and Student Affairs in
Al Quwaismeh’s Directorate of Education, Essam Khlaifat, stated
that the directorate had supplied the ministry with the names of
415 eligible students and on May 28, 2020, actually received 83
tablets from three donating entities, the Crown Prince Foundation,
the Queen Rania Centre for Education and Information Technology,
and Al Quwaismeh district municipality. However, only the tablets
donated by the Crown Prince Foundation contained internet chips,
according to Khlaifat.
Mohammad’s mother receives JD 200 monthly from the National Aid
Fund, from which she pays JD 150 for rent and what is left she
spends on food. She says: “Food is more important than internet
access.” Still, when she became aware that the Ministry of
Education intended to supply underprivileged students with tablet
devices, she visited the school of her daughters, Hiba and Nada,
in November of 2020, to inquire about her daughters’ eligibility
and was assured by Hiba’s teacher that they qualify to receive a
tablet. Yet days and months have passed without any progress. She
adds: “My children have missed out on a whole semester of school
while waiting for the promised tablets. If only officials could
pay us a visit and see our situation for themselves, or at least
allow us to return to in-class education.”
Mohammad and his siblings managed to follow up on their lessons
through special television educational programming, but to pass
the semester and sit for exams, they were required to log into the
e-platform which made studying confusing and complicated, leading
them to eventually give up.
Hiba’s teacher, Asma’ Khalil, says: “Hiba has not attended classes
through the platform since the beginning of the semester. In
addition to my being a teacher, I live close to her and am fully
aware of her family’s difficult financial circumstances. Hence, I
have added her name to the ministry’s list of qualifying students
but unfortunately neither Hiba nor any other eligible student in
the school have received the promised devices.”
Sixth grader, Amal, is another student who lives in the same
neighbourhood and who has been unable also to attend classes
through the (Darsak) platform. Her aunt describes the family’s
circumstances saying: “They live in a rented house, with an absent
father who lives in another country with his second wife and the
mother work here as a house cleaner. I tried to help as much as I
could but the cost of the internet bundles she needed was too
much. I also have school aged children and cannot afford internet
costs for everyone. Therefore, I helped her to study from her
school books only.”
Expected Outcomes
Teachers fully understand this dilemma since they form the main
link between the student and the educational process. They are
also aware of the extent of the negative impact this problem will
have on students. Aziza Mubarak, an Arabic language teacher at Al
Hassaniah Elementary School for Girls states: “I feel sad for all
those with no access to in-class education, as this will
definitely cause a gap in their educational journey. With the end
of the first semester, many parents still did not have the
financial means to provide their children with the devices
required for distant learning, which deprived these students of a
basic right to live in dignity.”
Maha Hamdan, an Arabic language high school teacher in Al
Mugablain, explains another side of this problem saying: “I listed
the names of all my underprivileged students, although some of
them did not fully fit the criteria set by the ministry.
Unfortunately, not one single tablet has reached our school.”
The headmistress of Al Hassaniah Elementary School for Boys, Amal
Al Suwaity, along with several teachers, took the initiative to
help students instead of waiting for solutions from outside. Al
Suwaity says: “The criteria set by the ministry did not apply to
most of the underprivileged students in our school. Therefore, we
made our own record for students who were unable to access the
e-platform, and some teachers donated internet cards to several of
them since we were fully aware of their circumstances. Only three
students in the school were eligible according to the ministry’s
criteria. Nevertheless, we still have not received any tablet.”
Tayseer Al Hoor, teacher of Islamic Education in the public
schools of Um Qusair and the second Mugablain Elementary School
for Boys says: “The absence of some students from the e-platform
is expected and understood since we live in a society where owning
the required devices is beyond the financial means of many
families. Even if a family were to own a laptop or tablet, how
would this device be shared to access the platform if they had six
children in school?!” He added that the schools where he works
have not received any tablets yet, and that students in these
schools have not received any financial help to overcome this
problem.
Regarding the size of his interaction with students on the
platform, Al Hoor says: “I have observed that student response to
homework assignments does not exceed 33%. This is in addition to
the fact that the technical problems students face when attempting
to access the platform also impact their interaction. Hence,
distant learning cannot suffice alone as a means of education, as
it lacks a basic pillar, which is the variation of teaching
strategies, especially in elementary grades which require more
one-on-one interaction between teachers and students.”
Justice in Education
In his speech before the Jordanian parliament on November 26,
2020, the Minister of Education made no mention of students who
could not access the platform, and stated that 88.5% of Jordanian
students actually accessed the platform and that 62% of these
students registered daily on the platform and regularly attended
their classes. The minister considered these figures to be quite
satisfactory.
In an attempt to explain the ministry’s delay in distributing the
tablets among eligible students, the Secretary General of
Administrative and Financial Affairs at the ministry, Najwa
Qubailat, said that “donors may place conditions on their
donations. For example, some may request that we distribute their
donated tablets in remote villages in the south, while others may
request that their donated devices be distributed among the
children of families benefitting from the National Aid Fund.”
Dr. Fakher Daas, is a human rights activist and member of the
National Campaign for the Rights of Students “Thabahtouna,”
(Arabic for you have slaughtered us) launched in 2007. He
considers the figures stated by the minister as proof of “the
government’s failure to achieve justice in education” and a
violation of Article 6 of the Jordanian Constitution which
stipulates that “The Government shall ensure work and education
within the limits of its possibilities, and it shall ensure a
state of tranquillity and equal opportunities to all Jordanians,”
in addition to Article 20 which stipulates that “Elementary
education shall be compulsory for Jordanians and free of charge in
Government schools.” Therefore, on December 20, 2020, Daas created
a social media “storm” demanding the return to in-class education
with the hashtags “Second semester in school” and “Safe return to
school” leading Jordan’s trends on Twitter within less than two
hours of his tweets.
Dr. Daas says: “According to the Minister of Education’s
statement, 11.5% of students could not access the platform which
means that more than 180 thousand students were deprived of their
right to education as stipulated in the constitution.”
Education consultant and early childhood expert, Nariman Arikat,
refers to the negative impact this educational interruption will
have on the psychology of students saying: “This interruption will
definitely affect their educational level, may weaken their
motivation to learn and cause a deep sense of emptiness.
Elementary school children are the ones mostly affected and I
expect their educational achievement to be lower than what is
required for them to qualify to enter the next stage of school.”
Thinking Outside the Box
In light of this abrupt and complicated situation imposed by the
pandemic, several institutional and individual initiatives were
launched in an attempt to suggest solutions to help students and
their families overcome this crisis. One of these initiatives was
organized by the NGO “Ana Ataallam” (i Learn) that launched a
national campaign entitled “Darsi Bi Eidak” (My Lesson in Your
Hands), which focuses on the refurbishment of older electronic
devices and distributing them among eligible families.
Saddam Sayyalah, the person behind the idea, says: “We began work
on the campaign in April 2020, by distributing a questionnaire
which showed that a large number of parents were unable to provide
their children with adequate internet service or the devices they
needed to attend classes on the platform. Consequently, we asked
institutions and individuals to donate computers, tablets and cell
phones which we refurbished and provided one year’s access to the
educational platform “Abwab” (Doors), after which we distributed
them among more than 1200 families in seven different regions
within the Kingdom.”
Dr. Aseel Shwareb, Head of the Department of Educational Sciences
at the University of Petra, says: “This is a global issue and
Jordan is not an exception. The most important thing at the moment
is to make up for the time lost and readjust programs and evaluate
each student individually before carrying on with the curriculum.”
She called on tutors to “think outside the box” and organize
community initiatives that suggest solutions instead of disrupting
the educational process awaiting the government’s provision of
these tablets.
Lawyer Nasser Hatamleh, Head of the Legal Committee in the
Jordanian National Observatory for Human Rights, holds the
government fully responsible for providing education to all
Jordanian citizens saying: “Because education is free of charge,
the Ministry of Education should have found solutions and
mechanisms of access for underprivileged students before switching
to distant learning. Although this decision affects the
constitutional rights of students, no legal action can be taken
against the minister since it was issued within the framework of
Defence Law no. 13 for the year 1992.
On January 13, 2021, the Minister of Education announced that
there would be a gradual return to in-class education for the
second semester of the school year, but the outbreak of a new
strain of the Corana Virus made parents feel that such a return
would be temporary. They were back to square one, struggling, on
the one hand, with the decline in their children’s level of
education, and on the other hand, dealing with their children’s
sense of inferiority as they watch their more privileged
colleagues continue to learn and attend classes via the “Darsak”
e-platform.
In his policy statement before the 19th Parliament, presented on
Sunday, January 3, 2021, Jordan’s PM Bisher Al-Khassawneh
emphasized that “the natural learning environment for students is
in school,” but warned against the hasty reopening of sectors
adding that the return to in-class education would be determined
by the epidemiological situation in Jordan. The Premier also said
that “the government is working on providing underprivileged
students with the required devices and equipment to ensure that
electronic learning supports and enhances the development of
quality education,” and that the government is “committed to
providing educational services to all students fairly and
equally.” Shortly after the PM’s statement, the newly appointed
Minister of Education, Dr. Mohammad Abu Qudais, announced the
continuation of remote learning for the second semester. In the
meantime, the spokesperson for the Ministry of Digital Economy and
Entrepreneurship announced that the next tender for the tablet
devices would be postponed until further notice. Hence, as the end
of the 2020/2021 school year approaches, the inability of
thousands of Jordanian students to remotely follow up on their
education is an ongoing problem.