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The results of the public secondary school examination for 2015 show that in 338 schools throughout the country not a single student passed, which an increase of 13 schools compared to last year’s results. This was a big shock for those who are interested in education in Jordan, not only because of the number of schools involved, but more importantly because it reveals a major problem in the educational system.
 
The schools in which no one passed the exam account for 27 percent of all the public secondary schools in the country, which is a very high percentage. And when we consider the geographical distribution of these schools, we find that the problem is even more fundamental. For example, there are seven districts in which more than 50 percent of the schools had no students who passed the exam, while in the southern district of Shobak this applies to over 75 percent of the schools. Without going into the details, we find that these schools are concentrated in the rural and poor regions and provinces. This shows that the problem is fundamentally a developmental issue and not an educational one, as most of these regions have high rates of poverty and unemployment, in addition to the lack of equality between these provinces and the main provinces such as the capital. This problem has come to light because of the unprecedented interest shown by King Abdullah II in this regard.

Continue reading the article on the World Bank’s blog here.