Initiative expects to repair 100,000 public schools’ seats, desks by year’s end

AMMAN — In cooperation with the Education Ministry, the “Maqa’adona” (Our Seat) initiative expects to repair 100,000 public schools’ seats and desks by the end of 2020, according to the initiative’s director.

To date, the initiative, launched by the Aljude organisation in 2017, has fixed around 90,000 seats and desks, Arafat Awad told The Jordan Times on Tuesday. 

The initiative cooperated with 37 vocational schools around the Kingdom with the aim of reducing the shortage of desks at public schools, supporting vocational schools, and lowering the costs of school equipment, he said, adding that about 60 per cent of public schools benefitted from the initiative.

Maqa’adona mended 200 seats in its first week as it kicked off in both Russeifa’s and Sahab’s vocational schools, the director added. 

Awad said that the number of damaged seats and desks increases yearly, adding that the unusable furniture is compiled in abandoned areas of schools. 

“Meanwhile, more students are resorting to public rather than private schools, which places more pressure on schools as the demand for seats grows,” he added.

Over 500 students at vocational schools joined the project, working with their teachers on repairing seats and desks, which allows them to gain more experience and increases their confidence by learning artistic and practical skills, he said. 

Urging students and teachers to be more productive, the initiative offers them a small amount of money for each seat or desk they repair, according to Awad.

The organisation held a 40-day vocational summer course to train students interested in technical work, which increased the pace of the maintenance process, he added. 

Alluding to the amount of money that could be saved, the director said that sometimes a JD30 seat is neglected for a problem that can be resolved with only a screw or a small piece of wood. 

According to Aljude’s official website, the initiative helped cut the State Treasury's costs by JD1,638,000.

Encouraged by Maqa’adona’s achievements, different entities started supporting the initiative. “Najmeh Project” provided around 30,000 tonnes of wood, while the Jordan Kuwait Bank, which started supporting the initiative recently, provided wood for eight education directorates, according to Awad.

Abdul Hamid Sharaf School’s workshop supervisor Bashar Kurdi said that the maintenance and repairment of 2,000 seats were carried out in the school’s workshop through the initiative to benefit 50 schools around Amman.

The school has trained students to mend, paint and weld seats, Kurdi added.

 Director of Ain Al Basha Education Directorate Fadi Jazzazi underscored the “bright effect” that the cooperation between the ministry and initiatives leaves on the schools’ environments. He said that the directorate has received 833 pieces of wood to repair 400 seats and desks through Maqa’adona.