Social justice takes spotlight in JOHUD competition

AMMAN — The Jordanian Hashemite Fund for Human Development (JOHUD) on Thursday launched the Queen Alia Competition for Social Responsibility for 2019-2020.

The launch of the competition came in conjunction with the World Day for Social Justice, which is marked by the UN on February 20 of every year, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The competition’s higher committee chose social justice as this year’s theme with the aim of raising awareness on the topic among all segments of Jordanian society, especially students in schools and universities.

The competition covers several aspects, a major one being social justice, its elements and how it can be applied to daily life.

The higher committee announced that the application for the competition is available electronically for university students through its website www.qac.jo.

Head of the higher committee former minister Bashir Rawashdeh stressed the importance of the competition as seen in its annual themes in community awareness and the encouragement it offers to target groups to play their role in creating sustainable societies.

Deputy head of the competition’s scientific committee Muhammad Hamad said that the competition seeks to raise social justice awareness among school and university students. 

He noted that around 700,000 brochures for the competition were distributed to school students and through social and economic activities, while a percentage of the copies were distributed free of charge to some students who are unable to purchase them in order to ensure the participation of all groups in the competition.

He added that 6,000 cards were distributed to university students.

Hani Farraj, the head of the financial committee, confirmed that the entire proceeds of the competition, since its inception in 1995, are allocated towards financing programmes that serve people with disabilities, due to the high costs and education requirements for this segment of society.

The proceeds of the competition, which amount to around JD80,000 annually,  are directed to supporting Al Rajaa School for Deaf Students in Ruseifa, in addition to other amounts allocated towards the special education resources rooms at the Ministry of Education, according to Farraj.

He said that the higher committee, in order to encourage the participation of students in its activities, has allocated 700 awards for participants ranging between JD50 and JD1,000, with a total value estimated at JD34,600, in addition to JD1,360 of in-kind prizes donated by charitable citizens and institutions.