Ministry working to ensure heating is provided at public schools this winter

AMMAN — Public schools will have warm classrooms this winter, with measures under way to install central heating, an official source said Wednesday.

The Education Ministry has tasked directors of education departments with ensuring that the necessary renovation work is carried out in all schools ahead of the cold season, said Sami Salaytah, the ministry’s secretary general for technical and administrative affairs.

“We provided schools with diesel a month ago and there is also a Royal makruma to provide 500 heaters to the coldest schools,” he told The Jordan Times.

He cited a several-phase project to replace heaters in classrooms with central heating.

“This is the end goal, but for now the ministry has floated a tender to purchase 1,500 heaters for schools that might need additional heating,” Salaytah added.

Earlier this year, His Majesty King Abdullah directed the government to install central heating at public schools across the Kingdom in a several-phase project.

In the first phase of the project, funded by His Majesty, central heating was installed in 50 schools located in “extremely cold areas” based on priority.

The government was tasked with undertaking the implementation of the project’s following phases to cover all public schools.

In parallel with this initiative, King Abdullah directed officials at the Royal Court to study all available options, especially renewable energy utilisation, to provide heating at public schools.

The pilot project will be studied and then implemented in two schools in the first phase, whereby they will be provided with heating through solar power.

According to official figures, there are 3,760 public schools in Jordan, where 1.287 million students are enrolled, and around 80,000 teachers and 10,000 principals work.