Ten years ago, evangelicals in Jordan helped pioneer inclusive education for college kids with disabilities. A decade later the minister of education patronized their commencement event.
Founded in 2014, Alliance Academy Jordan (AAJ), owned by the local Christian and Missionary Alliance (CMA) church, began with 54 students in kindergarten through second grade. Adding a grade level every year, its first graduating class of two students completes a now 350-student body—17 of which have disabilities starting from cerebral palsy to autism and ADHD.
Another 31 have different levels of learning disabilities that require special class support and a spotlight. Over the years, AAJ has enrolled 71 such students altogether.
It is a drop within the bucket.
In 2017, the Jordanian government launched a 10-year plan for nationwide inclusive education. AAJ was on the initial advisory committee of the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that prepared it.
American funding helps Jordan meet its goal of 30 public inclusive schools in its major cities by 2025, mandating skilled development for all. Another 30 schools are planned for less-developed areas after that.
A 2020 study found that only 19 percent of teachers in Jordan were trained appropriately for special needs education. And while 11 percent of youth above the age of 5 have some type of disability, 79 percent receive no type of education in any respect.
Last 12 months the Higher Council chosen AAJ as considered one of six members to form a public-private school association to share expertise and assist in implementation. With a mean class size of 17, AAJ is uniquely positioned to serve special needs students because it aids the national endeavor toward their social integration.
And starting in 2025, the varsity plans to offer an American diploma.
CT spoke with AAJ general director Salam Madanat about challenges faced by the varsity, its diversity beyond disability, and the way it maintains a Christian vision.
How did you come to your position?
I used to be comfortable in retirement on the time, volunteering in ministry through my church. But in 2019, the CMA asked me to hitch the AAJ board of trustees, attributable to my background with the Alliance church and in management and human resources with the Arab Bank. Three years later I used to be tasked to guide the seek for a recent school director. The position had been held by an American from the CMA mission since inception, but we were seeking to transition to Jordanian leadership.
But because the search tarried, my husband whispered: I believe you need to do it. I didn’t wish to wake at 6 a.m. every single day and carry such a heavy weight. But as others shared similar encouragement at the varsity and within the church, I prayed and God assured me: This is my work, I’m answerable for it.
I’m a devout Christian, so I knew he just wanted me to obey. All I could do is place my two copper coins into his hands, trusting him for what I couldn’t see (Luke 21:1–4). But I’m confident AAJ was founded by the desire of God for a purpose, and it’s going to remain so.
What is that this purpose?
The goal was to supply inexpensive education for all children—not only the wealthy, smart, or able—and show the love of God through this ministry. Many good schools in Jordan have different goals, as education is usually a lucrative business. They compete to supply the very best facilities and attract the neatest kids, and a few will even expel students if their marks threaten to bring down the varsity grade point average.
We want our kids to receive excellent education. We offer the British educational system and shortly will add the American. But we positioned in a lower middle-class neighborhood in Amman and connected a church to the project. Our fees were very inexpensive for a very long time because the CMA church in America helped support us, but with COVID the financial challenges began to grow. We are still much more cost-effective than other private schools but about on par with Christians schools.
The difficulty comes especially with our commitment to inclusive education.
Where did this vision originate?
It was the product of our original purpose, as a technique to serve this neglected a part of society and reach their families with the love of God. And a number of years later, it fit well inside Jordan’s 10-year plan for inclusive education. We were visited by His Royal Highness Prince Mired Bin Ra’ad, the president of the Higher Council for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and a number of other other officials. They spoke of us as a model school and invited us to serve with them.
AAJ was within the news in all places.
The attention was nice, but not without cost. Now now we have a tough time attracting regular students as some families say, “That school is for the disabled; I don’t wish to put my children there.” We aim to cap—but keep—their percentage at 10 percent of sophistication size, consistent with international norms. Other schools that enroll students with disabilities are inclined to be rather more limited in scale.
Society continues to be not ready for inclusivity, but our AAJ parents like it. They say our faculty builds character in how their children are learning to simply accept diversity.
How else is diversity nurtured?
Jordan is a haven for refugees, from Syria and Iraq particularly, and a few of their children are enrolled in the varsity. We have a further 10 other nationalities represented, including Palestinian, Egyptian, Lebanese, American, Australian, Brazilian, Chilean, South Korean, and Chinese.
Several years ago we instituted a Chinese language course up through eighth grade. There are several Chinese projects in Jordan, and our country might want to have people in a position to interact with China as its influence grows on the planet. We feature a yearly China Day with food, art, and clothing.
And from the start, now we have had a slight majority of Christian students,. Nearly all other schools, including Christian schools, reflect society and its predominant Muslim majority. Christians are lower than 2 percent of the Jordanian population, but a majority Christian student body allows an environment that accepts a Christian spirit. And inside it we communicate that while we’re all different, God loves us the identical.
How else do you promote a Christian spirit?
As administrators, we start every single day with prayer for our students, staff, and the leadership of our nation. Students attend a morning assembly with a brief devotion about biblical life values, followed by a prayer. Once every week every class has a session called Values to Grow, where we teach life lessons drawn from our faith. For parents, every two weeks we nurture a mothers group through the Parent-Teacher Association, where we herald skilled experts to discuss parenting, self-care, and family issues.
And every 12 months we have a good time Christmas and Easter.
All that is run through our life development department, which works with students, teachers, parents, and the community to indicate people the love of God and reach out to them of their needs, extending the assistance that we will. And as people notice the love of God and the spirit of service, many ask questions and wish to know more.
We maintain an open environment, and besides the Christian religion class, we offer the mandatory Islamic religion classes in keeping with the federal government curriculum, based on the religious background of every student. We want everyone to suit into our family atmosphere.
How does this work within the special needs department?
One key feature is that, unlike many inclusive schools, we hire the shadow teachers ourselves. But we call them “learning aides,” as we would like them to be an element of the AAJ family and grow professionally inside their role. This increases our costs substantially, as we turn into responsible to pay into their advantages and social security package. (Other schools tell the parents to seek out these accompanying teachers on their very own.)
As such they fit fully into our mission and value system with a heart to serve.
We also provide for speech and occupational therapy with early intervention sessions at the varsity, versus outside specialized centers. These services was once free, but with our costs rising now we have recently asked parents to pay a still deeply discounted rate, in addition to a part of the salary of the educational aides.
Parents react otherwise to the prices, but many accept with a grateful heart.
What does your ideal graduating student appear to be?
Much like our first two graduates, Allissar and Hayel, who embody our values.
AAJ was founded upon the three R’s: responsibility, respect, and relationships. We are committed to excellence in education in order that we produce lifelong learners and responsible residents who serve their society. And we create a community that values diversity, promotes integrity, and extends grace.
But these relationships are forged through the concept that since God loves us, we love others. Self-confidence follows as everyone feels valued. We teach the scholars to be faithful of their work, as in the event that they are serving God. And then in service to people we emphasize loyalty to the family, country, and most significantly to God.
If our kids graduate with these values, they may contribute much to Jordan.
