AMMAN – The average number of students in each of the Kingdom’s public school class-rooms stands at around 32, according to an official from the Ministry of Education.
“The number can be higher or lower depending on the location of the school, and whether it is located in a densely populated area or not,” Mohammad Abu Ghazleh, director of the ministry’s planning and education research department, told The Jordan Times earlier this week.
He noted that about 7.6 per cent of the Kingdom’s 3,371 public schools are working in two shifts.
Hani Taweel, educational administration professor at the University of Jordan, said the number of students in each class is “ideal”, taking into account that Jordan is a developing country.
“In developed countries, the ideal number of students in each class is a maximum of 17. That is one teacher for each 17 students. But this is not the case in developing countries where it is considered ideal to have a maximum of 35 students per class,” he told The Jordan Times.
But Hussein Khuzai, a sociologist, believes that the ideal class size is 20 students and having more than 30 pupils in a classroom is considered “unhealthy”.
“Research has shown that a smaller class size enables teachers to devote more time to each student, and thus improve their achievements,” he highlighted, noting that the economic conditions of a country have a major impact on the number of students in schools and classrooms.
Taweel underlined that students in double-shift schools are “deprived” of extracurricular or guided activities that are provided by a “long” day at school.
“Students starting their classes at noon suffer more than those taking morning classes, both in terms of alertness and scheduling their time,” he explained.
Khuzai agreed, adding that students in the shift programme alternate between morning and afternoon classes during the year, which makes it difficult for them to adapt.
This year, 23,000 students have transferred from private to public schools placing an additional burden on the education ministry, which has taken several measures to ensure a smooth start to the new academic year.
Some 1.6 million students in the Kingdom began the new school year on Tuesday, including 140,000 first graders, according to the ministry.
Khuzai called on teachers and parents to put in extra effort to help students readjust to their school routines after around three months of vacation.
“Schools should not only be a place for studying but a place for socialising and communicating with peers,” he underlined.
© Jordan Times 2010
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