Pregnant private school teacher ‘s death sparks fury over alleged negligence

AMMAN — Outrage has erupted on social media platforms over the death of an eight-month pregnant teacher at a private school in the northern governorate of Irbid due to the alleged lack of immediate care.

Ruba, a mother of five, fainted while in school in Ramadan and did not get the required medical assistance, her husband said in a video. 

The husband said that the school called him to come help his wife instead of calling 911, noting that she went into a coma and died a few days later along with her unborn child.

He said that she was also in charge of school bus duty at the end of the school day.

The husband said that she worked for a salary of JD140 per month — a sum below the minimum wage — and never signed a work contract and was not included in the social security system for the years during her tenure at the school.

However, Haitham Al Najdawi, director of the Inspection Directorate at the Ministry of Labour, told The Jordan Times that according to the records and bank statement of the teacher, she received a salary of JD260, which was transferred to her bank account, as per the contract she had signed, and she was also enrolled in the social security system.

Najdawi also noted that neither the teacher nor her husband had ever filed a complaint to the ministry regarding this issue.

He stressed that the ministry takes all complaints related to labour rights into consideration and conducts inspections. 

If any worker submits a complaint, it is immediately verified and a warning is issued to the facility, the official added.

“The labour law guarantees the workers all their labour rights in any establishment. The husband’s claims are not true,” Najdawi stressed.

Head of the Private Schools Union Monther Al Sourani told The Jordan Times that there are strict protocols for private schools to promptly handle any emergency situation. 

He also noted that private schools always have a nurse or a doctor on call to handle any emergency.

Regarding salaries, Sourani said that all private schools are required to pay the minimum wage of JD260, and it is a violation if they failed to do so.

“Any worker whose work exceeds 15 days must be included in the social security coverage, and this is to safeguard the rights of the school and the teacher,” Sourani added.

According to Sourani, investigations into the teacher’s death are ongoing in cooperation with the Ministry of Labour and the Social Security Corporation. There are still “no clear outcomes” of the investigation, he said.

Meanwhile, many Jordanians took to social media platforms to express their anger over the incident using the hashtag #WeAreAllRuba (in Arabic), in support of the teacher.

Many social media users accused the Ministry of Education of negligence, alleging that the ministry “underestimates its supervisory role over private schools”.

Twitter user Mohammad Adawi tweeted in Arabic: “What angers the Jordanians the most is that such incidents are not random, but rather the result of systemic neglect and violation of the rights of vulnerable groups in society. Private schools exploit teachers in the absence of official supervision.”

Social media users called on the government and all the concerned authorities to safeguard the right of the teacher and bring the perpetrators to book.