Without access to accurate, up-to-date school building data, planning and budgeting for school maintenance is challenging. Recognizing the significance of school maintenance data, the Jordan Ministry of Education, with the support of the USAID Enhancing School Management and Planning (ESMP) Activity, kicked off the 2021 School Facility Audit, deploying nearly 200 directorate engineers to assess maintenance needs of close to 3,000 schools.
“We have 193 schools [in] the Education Directorate of Marka,” stated Kholoud Khalid Ghanagem, one of the ministry’s directorate engineers primed to take on the task. Equipped with the tablet survey, she traversed an Amman school, noting any mold, cracks, or other needs that she observed. “It is more pressure above our usual work,” Ghanagem noted, but continued attesting that it will not only help the schools, but also provide her with good experience. “We’ve taken good information and entered into the [tablet]. All things: the roof, the yards, we saw everything…I’m very excited.” Ghanagem additionally praised the USAID training workshop, attesting to its relevance to engineering work.
The 2021 Facility Audit was launched in early November, after months of close collaboration between ESMP and the Ministry. Using the USAID activity’s 2020 audit as the foundation, ministry staff and relevant stakeholders updated the questionnaire, reviewed the software, and learned to capture all maintenance needs of a school within a few hours.
Research shows that high quality school facility conditions are critical to student health and safety, and that there is a strong link between the quality of school facilities and student achievement. This maintenance data will serve as the core to creating these quality learning environments.
Going forward, USAID will continue supporting the Ministry of Education to use the survey data to develop school condition report cards and develop school-based maintenance plans. Within two years, the Ministry will be well prepared to take full responsibility for the audit, keep its maintenance data up-to-date, and preserve good conditions of its schools across the country – leading to safe school environments for students and teachers to focus on learning.
