Jordan schools open doors for students after almost a year

Gulf Today Report

Schools in Jordan reopened on Sunday, almost after a year of closure due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Jordan has shut down all educational institution since Mid-March as virus cases surged across the country.

Students in their final year of high school, kindergarten and early elementary school levels went back to classrooms on Sunday the first day of the school week in Jordan.

High school students attend a class at a school in Amman on Sunday. Reuters

Christian schools will reopen for those students on Monday.

The UN agency for Palestinian refugees also reopened its schools on Sunday for 28,000 students.

An education ministry spokesman said more than 773,000 students were going back to the classroom this week.

Fadi Ismail, a teacher at the Shukry Shaashaa school in Amman, was also keen to return.

The government decided to reopen schools after a drop in the number of Covid-19 cases over the past four weeks.

Students sitting in classroom at a school in Amman on Sunday. Reuters

Another 1.4 million students across the country will return gradually until March 7, according to the education and health ministries.

Bassam Hijjawi from the national epidemics committee said on Sunday that the gradual return to schools would take place within "a strict health protocol."

He said all students were required to wear masks and observe physical distancing in the classroom, with two square metres provided for each desk.