(MENAFN- Jordan Times) His Majesty King Abdullah on Sunday urged students, educators and planners to further boost a culture of democracy in schools and renewed support for the education process and efforts to improve its outputs.
In a letter addressed to students and teachers on the first day of the school year on Sunday, when about 1.7 million students went to more than 1,600 schools, His Majesty announced that he has directed concerned officials to prepare for a national education conference that would draw up policies to address shortcomings in the education process and improve its quality (see translation of the letter).
"One of the most significant aspects of the empowerment we seek for the country's youth - male and female students - is the entrenchment of democracy, dialogue and intellectual pluralism as high values embraced in schools, with the aim of producing generations that respect diversity, debate in the best and most gracious ways, accept different opinions and understand the importance of persuading others of their views through effective communication," the King said in the letter, which was read to morning assemblies at schools all over the Kingdom.
The Monarch cited school parliaments as a "promising example" of democratic practices at schools.
"We see school parliaments as a promising experience, on which we rely to educate students on the art and discipline of dialogue and teach them to accept and respect diversity of viewpoints. We see this as a way of political education, so that students can in the future embrace their political choices and take part in building their country with confidence, knowledge and experience," he said.
The King underlined the need to build up a matrix of moral values and instil them in the minds of students.
"We hope that all parties concerned with education" will pay due attention and give priority to efforts aimed at" entrenching a matrix of moral values that will cement the envisioned democratic approach," he told students and educators.
Meanwhile, Minister of Education Fayez Saudi on Sunday read King Abdullah's letter to students, teachers and other members of the educational sector on the occasion of the beginning of the new scholastic year at the Hashemiya Secondary School for Girls in Southern Badia.
He said the educational sector highly appreciates the King's initiatives and efforts to provide quality education and develop the education sector.
Saudi visited several schools in the Southern Badia and checked on their needs.
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