Background on Politics and Economy in Jordan
Recently there has been a limiting of the political freedoms in Jordan, leading to the dissolution of the Jordanian Teachers Syndicate (JTS), which may have catastrophic effects on the future of education in Jordan. International aid and loans heavily stimulate the economy of Jordan. A strong relationship with the West, especially the U.S., has made Jordan more stable than its neighboring countries. However, this stability does not mean the country is well off, rather there are many issues affecting Jordan in both political and economic spheres. Jordan is currently facing an increase in inflation, decreasing economic growth, and rising external debt. These factors have led to a high rate of poverty and unemployment amongst the Jordanian people. This issue is further exacerbated by the Jordanian government attempting to fix the problem by raising taxes and goods prices.
Many citizens are unhappy with the government’s response to these issues. The king has stated that he prioritizes political and economic reform;however there has been no change. This has created a culture of distrust among the Jordanian people in which they scrutinize their government. This trend is not without backing, as corruption in Jordan has reached a large number of sectors within the government. This was made apparent by news coverage from human rights organizations, which focused on the growing corruption. In the past, local news stations could report instances of corruption given that blame avoided the king or the court. However, the government has recently placed gag orders on the press, lessening freedom of speech. While meant to prevent citizens from panicking during Covid-19 restrictions it has now spread to incidents such as the shutdown of the Jordanian Teachers Syndicate and the subsequent demonstrations against the shutdown.
Jordan and the Jordanian Teachers’ Syndicate (JTS)
The Jordanian government and the JTS have been at odds for years as the union pushes for fairer wages in Jordan. The JTS was banned for nearly half a century before it was allowed to re-enter the public sphere as a concession by the government to pacify the 2011 Arab Spring. Jordan has been cutting funding in many public sectors to fulfill loan conditions’ and education has been a sector hit the hardest by decreased government funding. Due to this, teaching has become a severely underpaid career, with a significant percentage of teachers living in poverty. This creates a teacher shortage as people realize there is no financial security in the profession. In turn, this negatively affects the number of people who can complete their education. Seeing as education and poverty go hand in hand, it is understandable that the number of people living in poverty has increased as the amount of children in schools has decreased.
Before the Jordanian Teachers Syndicate’s unfortunate dissolution in 2020, it represented around 140,000 teachers in a small county of 10 million and had some notable successes. This included the mass protests and demonstrations in October 2019, which led the government to approve a teacher pay raise. However, several months later, with the emergence of Covid-19, the Jordanian government imposed a near-total lockdown of the economy, which prevented the spread of the disease but was also used to restrict the JTS.
The government never allowed the pay raises to go through. This prompted the leaders of the JTS to plan a mass demonstration where they would protest their wages. The government saw this political unrest as a threat and decided to shut down the entire organization, using Covid-19 protocols’ guide to stop protests. Despite these clashes with the government, many Jordanian teachers are unwilling to give up on the union or their chance at fair wages.
The Future of Education in Jordan
There has been a lot of backlash towards the Jordanian government’s actions against the teachers union from individual countries and international human rights groups. Notably, the Jordanian government did not think their actions would cause such backlash. This problematic handling of a peaceful demonstration of human rights has deeply affected its reputation with foreign countries. Many feel as though Jordan is tightening controls on their people because they feel threatened by the power of labor unions. If the Jordanian government continues to use these strict methods against their opposition, it will have catastrophic effects on their public sector. Protests allow citizens to voice their opinions on how they feel their government is doing, and when a government can listen, this will lead to positive reforms. Currently, this situation is negatively impacting the levels of children completing school, which could be associated with an increase in poverty.
Conclusion
It is important to consider that Jordanians possess resiliency and determination, as their efforts paid off in the past, they are not a people that will fade out quietly. They will stand up to fight for what they feel Jordan owes them as citizens. If Jordan wishes to proceed with an ounce of care and dignity, they should stop using intimidation tactics and blanket bans that prevent people from participating in protests; this is vital in ensuring that citizens can use their freedom of expression. To mitigate this situation, Jordan needs to prioritize education, and educators are making it known that the first step towards better national education is fair compensation. This is one goal the Jordanian Teachers’ Syndicate hoped would come to fruition with their hard work. This goal can be achieved with monetary aid from foreign countries as they seek to assist in Jordainian economic growth. There is still hope in the future of the JTS when they return after a two-year penalty. However, there is still reason to be cautious when a country’s government can ignore the human rights of their people to further their interests.
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