By Mohammad Ghazal

ZARQA - Third-grader Afnan Mohammad, who used to "hate" going to school, on Wednesday said she now looks forward to attending her classes at Hai Al Hadiqa Basic School, which is now safer and cleaner, as well as beautiful, thanks to the Madrasati initiative.

On Wednesday, Her Majesty Queen Rania visited Mohammad's school in Hai Masoum in Zarqa, which went through a makeover under the initiative.

Launched by the Queen earlier this year, the Royal initiative seeks to provide a better educational environment by renovating 500 schools across the Kingdom through partnership with local communities, private and public sector institutions and different civil society entities.

"I did not like coming to school… I used to wake up every morning and dress in clean clothes, but because the school used to be dirty, I would return home with my clothes and hair full of dust," Mohammad told The Jordan Times yesterday.

Mohammad said she and her friends did not look forward to sports classes either, as they used to fall and hurt themselves often, because of the uneven yard that used to be full of potholes.

"I also hated going to the toilet, which was smelly. But now that my school has been renovated, I enjoy coming and playing in the yard," she added.

Her classmates, Ruba and Saja, who share the same bench, also expressed their happiness with their "new" school, where 600 students attend morning and afternoon classes under the two-shift system.

Aida Fares, the school principal, noted that the school lacked the basic educational atmosphere before the renovation and maintenance work.

"The situation is completely different now… many parents who wanted to move their children to private schools because of the previous condition of the school, have now decided to let them stay," she said.

During her visit yesterday, the Queen talked to the teachers and schoolchildren, who shared their impressions of the school after it was renovated. She told them that the next step under the initiative is to supply the school with proper furniture and equipment.

Under the renovations, new toilets were built, fans were installed and comprehensive maintenance was carried out on the school's doors, windows and walls, which also got a fresh coat of paint. In addition, the schoolyard was paved.

Also yesterday, Queen Rania visited Al Robaia Bint Al Moaoz Elementary School and checked on maintenance and renovation work carried out under the initiative.

The rented premises, which accommodates 160 students, now has new toilets, freshly painted walls and lockers.

The two schools were renovated under the first phase of the initiative, which covered 32 schools in Zarqa, 45 in Amman, 11 in Ruseifa, 10 in Central Badia and two in Balqa Governorate.

Over the next five years, around 165,000 students will benefit directly from the initiative, according to organisers.

The Queen previously said that the national scheme requires cooperation between the public, private and academic sectors and civil society. It already incorporates 12 main partners including the Ministry of Education, the Jordan River Foundation and the Greater Amman Municipality.

With over 1.6 million school-age children in Jordan, Madrasati also focuses on private schools that can be involved in "twinning" projects and offer resources, experience and time to public schools while teaching progressive values to their students.