Khaberni - The Cabinet decided in its session held on Sunday chaired by Prime Minister Jafar Hassan, to approve the justifying reasons for the draft amendatory regulation of the Student Support Fund at official universities for the year 2026; aiming to implement a new and clear mechanism for distributing partial scholarships and loans throughout all the governorates of the kingdom, in a way that ensures fairness and equality of opportunity among the benefiting students, considering the population density of each governorate.
The amendment of the regulation follows the directive of the Prime Minister, to review the Student Support Fund regulation at official universities; to take into consideration the population numbers in high-density governorates, regarding the criteria for awarding scholarships and loans provided by the fund, in response to the remarks made during the sessions of the House of Representatives.
The government has increased the allocations of the university student support fund to reach 40 million dinars this year; which contributed to enhancing the students' opportunities to benefit from the scholarships and loans provided by the fund, thereby reaching 60,000 students.
According to the proposed amendments, a total of 550 partial scholarships and loans will be allocated for each governorate of the kingdom, distributed over 250 loans and 150 scholarships for undergraduate students, and 150 partial scholarships for students in the intermediate diploma phase in vocational and applied specialties.
It is expected that these grants and loans will account for about 50% of the total number of scholarships and loans provided by the university student support fund annually, with the remaining 50% to be distributed across various governorates that did not include all the applying students, according to the population density and based on the number of students who met the criteria but were not nominated for scholarships or loans.
This mechanism is considered more equitable for governorates with high population density, as it will increase the number of students nominated for scholarships and loans therein, while it will also reduce the points a student needs to qualify for benefiting from a scholarship or loan, and it will maintain the quota for governorates with a smaller population density that will not be negatively affected by the new mechanism.
In completing the steps for implementing the school transport project, the Cabinet approved the final operation agreement of the school transport project in public schools, which will begin in the southern Badia and Aqaba areas, between the Ministry of Education and a coalition of local and international companies with global expertise in this field.
The agreement will be signed in the coming days, signaling the start of the project, which is the first of its kind in the kingdom, and which is expected to have a positive impact on students and the educational process, addressing the transport challenges they face.
The project will provide integrated and free school transportation for students in public schools, where students will not bear any cost, starting with the first phase in the southern Badia areas including 60 schools sprawled across the governorates of Karak, Tafila, Ma'an, and Aqaba, and it will expand gradually to include all governorates, especially the central and northern Badia regions.
