Ministry increases raise cap for teachers to stem shift into administrative jobs

AMMAN — Minister of Education and Higher Education Walid Maani on Monday said that the ministry’s career paths for teachers had entered its final stage of development as the cap for raises was increased from 132 per cent to 250 per cent.

During the press conference, the minister said that the career path would improve teachers’ living conditions and stop their move into administrative jobs, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The ministry’s priorities for the next stage focus on three major fields including students, curriculum and teachers, Maani said, adding that the ministry has contracted with the Queen Rania Teachers Academy to train 800 teachers per year and the ministry is working to increase that number to 1,200 by the end of 2019.

Maani said that the National Centre for Curriculum Development was continuing to work on school textbooks, and is expected to finish the project within the next two years.

Maani also said that changes to the Tawjihi (general secondary education certificate examination) were based on previous studies, which concluded that an earlier two-semester system confused students in terms of courses and grading systems.

The two-semester system allows for two examination sessions, one at the end of every semester, while the single-semester system holds one examination session for all Tawjihi courses at the end of the year.

The Tawjihi exams are expected to be held next June, followed by a session for those who failed to complete all of their subjects, to ensure equality by giving them a chance to apply for unified admission in time, Petra added.