Jordan

The present structure of the Jordanian educational system comprises formal and nonformal systems. The nonformal system includes preschool education, which is run by the private sector and enrolls children as young as age three. Literacy campaigns, home schooling, and vocational training administrated by the ministries of Labor, Industry, and Defense are also part of the nonformal education system.

The formal education system is composed of the following stages:

• A compulsory stage for children ages 6 to 15 (grades 1-10), consisting of primary school (grades 1-6) and preparatory school (grades 7-10).
• A comprehensive secondary education (academic and vocational) and applied secondary education (training centers and apprenticeship).
• Higher education, either a two-year intermediate level course offered by community colleges or four years of university level courses, either in public or private institutions. The student's achievement on the General Secondary Education Certificate Examination is the sole criterion for admission into higher education institutes.

Children move up the educational ladder under a system of modified automatic promotion. Under this system, students in grades 4 through 10 may repeat a grade twice. After that they are automatically promoted. In the preparatory stage, grade repetition is allowed only once. At the secondary level, students are allowed to repeat once in a government school provided they are younger than 17; otherwise they must transfer to a private school.

Before 1975, all students were required to pass a public preparatory education examination to be admitted into secondary school. With the elimination of this exam, students are admitted into the secondary stage simply by passing their ninth grade end of the year examinations and on the basis of their class standing. The exam was reintroduced in 1985, but then cancelled in 1989.

Community colleges and universities vary in required attendance from two years in community colleges to six or more in universities based on the type of institution and specialization. For instance, the faculty or school of medicine requires six years. To be admitted into postsecondary institutions, students must pass the General Secondary School Certificate Examination or GSSCE (al Tawjehy). Students in the vocational education program sit for the Vocational General Secondary Certificate Examination.

The majority of students are enrolled in schools directly controlled by the MOE. Some schools fall under the jurisdiction of the cultural bureau of the Ministry of Defense. The Ministry of Health oversees students studying for medical careers; it established the first nursing school in 1953-54.

Instruction is in Arabic, but English is introduced in public schools in the fifth grade and is widely used. A new policy was recently approved to start teaching English in the first grade beginning in the academic year 2001-02. The school year runs for 210 days from September to June. There are two semesters in the school year. Students attend schools five days a week, Sunday through Thursday. To pass from one grade to the next, students need to maintain adequate grade averages. The final grade of each student in each course is converted into a percentage. The minimum passing level in any subject is 50 percent. The universities or other postsecondary institutions also employ this grading system for individual courses. However, a student needs to have a 60 percent average in all courses combined to graduate.

All public schools and most private ones use the same textbooks. Under Law 16 of 1964, the School Curricula and Textbooks Division of the MOE is responsible for producing and printing the textbooks. They are distributed free of charge during the compulsory stage, but there is a nominal fee at the secondary stage.

Jordanian public schools are single sex schools. Some private schools allow for mixed classrooms. Jordanian classrooms, much like those in other capital-poor countries, are bare. Rows of chairs for students are positioned against a table from which the teacher talks while the students listen. This lack of facilities compounds education problems. As of 1979-80, for example, with the dramatic increase in enrollments, the MOE was forced to introduce a two shift school program in about 41 percent of the compulsory and secondary schools and to rent some buildings. In 1997, however, only 16 percent of students were attending two shift schools and 11 percent went to rented buildings.

Educational television was introduced on a limited scale in Jordan beginning in 1968. It provided programs for secondary schools, primarily in such fields as mathematics, the sciences, and English. In 1997, the MOE produced 30 programs for grades 1-5 and 36 programs for grades 5-7.

As a whole, education in Jordan is considered an investment in the future. Skilled citizens are necessary. Before the Gulf War, most graduates could find good jobs in the oil-rich countries, and the money they sent home helped the Jordanian economy to grow. It is not uncommon for a family living at subsistence level to be able to send a child to a university (Abu-Zeinh).