Khaberni - The Ministry of Education and a coalition of local and international companies; on Tuesday, in the Ma'an governorate, signed the final operational agreement for the project "Proof of Concept of School Transportation in the Southern Badia and Aqaba region," marking the beginning of the project implementation with the start of the next academic year.
The agreement aims to organize the contractual relationship between the two parties; to implement the project of proving the concept of government school transportation in partnership with the private sector, to transport students, their teachers, and staff in the operational areas.
The agreement was signed on behalf of the Ministry of Education by its Minister, Azmi Mahafzah, and on behalf of the coalition of companies by the representatives of the companies involved in the project implementation, in the presence of the Minister of Investment Tareq Abu Ghazaleh, the Governor of Ma'an Khaled Al-Hajjaj, and the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Education for Administrative and Financial Affairs Sahar al-Shakhatreh.
The project is part of a governmental direction to develop the school transportation system and provide a safe, regular, and free transport service for students, which contributes to reducing the financial burden on families, enhancing student attendance in their schools, and supporting the educational process, to be gradually expanded to include all the provinces of the kingdom.
During the signing ceremony, Mahafzah explained that the project represents a qualitative step in supporting the education sector and improving the educational environment for students, and it embodies the government's commitment to providing a safe and fair educational environment for all students, addressing one of the most significant challenges faced by families, represented by school transportation, through sustainable solutions that ensure easy and safe access of students to their schools.
He noted that the first phase of the project includes the operation of (156) modern buses serving (61) schools, comprising about (9) thousand students, and nearly (900) members of administrative and educational staff, indicating that the project includes a comprehensive system of safety standards, specialized training programs for drivers and bus assistants, and buses equipped with the latest safety technologies and electronic monitoring and tracking systems, along with a free unified application that allows parents to follow their children's movements.
For his part, Abu Ghazaleh said that the free school transport project represents a practical model for effective partnership between the public and private sectors, reflecting the government's approach towards attracting quality investments that are directly linked to improving the quality of services provided to citizens.
He added that the project not only provides a safe and free transport service for students but also contributes to creating direct job opportunities and stimulating economic activity in the provinces, especially in the Southern Badia regions, as it will contribute in its first phase to providing (300) direct job opportunities, confirming that the project represents a launch for a number of developmental projects that the government intends to continue implementing to promote balanced development among the provinces.
On their part, representatives of the coalition of companies implementing the project confirmed that the executing coalition possesses extensive experience in implementing similar projects, and these companies have previously implemented similar projects in a number of Arab countries in the region.
They clarified that the project will adhere to the highest technical and operational standards to ensure sustainability, efficiency, and quality of service, pointing out that the partnership between the public and private sectors in this project represents a successful model in implementing developmental projects with a direct impact on citizens.
