Education System in Jordan
| Education | School/Level | Grade From | Grade To | Age From | Age To | Years | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Middle | General Education | 1 | 10 | 6 | 16 | 10 | Education is compulsory for ages 6 to 16. | |
| Secondary | Secondary Education | 16 | 18 | 2 | Certificate/Diploma awarded: Tawjihi (General Secondary Education Certificate) | |||
| Vocational | Secondary Vocational Education | 16 | 18 | 2 | Certificate/Diploma awarded: Completion Certificate | |||
| Tertiary | Undergraduate Education | 4 | Bachelor degree program. A Bachelor is 4 years in most fields, Dentistry, Pharmacy and Engineering are 5 years, Medicine 6 years. Some universities follow German and French systems. The German leads to a Magister degree, the French to a DEA degree. Teacher education is part of the university system. All teachers must obtain a Bachelor, secondary teachers must in addition pass one more year of study to obtain the Higher Diploma in Education. | |||||
| Tertiary | Graduate Education | 2 | Two years after completing a Bachelor program. |
Primary Education
The education program in Jordan comprises 2 years of pre-school education, ten years of basic education and 2 years of either secondary academic or secondary vocational schooling. Primary school blends into what is called middle education elsewhere. Scholars may attend either private or public schools.
Secondary Education
Academic secondary schools are still afflicted by class and gender discrimination. Students study there for 2 years after which they may apply to proceed to university. Subjects include arabic, biology, chemistry, computer science, earth science, english, maths, physics, social science, and islamic studies (unless christian).
Vocational Education
Those students who prefer to, or who are practically inclined may attend 2 years of vocational training at technical secondary school instead. Here they receive intensive vocational exposure including apprenticeships. Both of these may open doors at community colleges and at universities too.
Tertiary Education
There are a variety of public and private universities in Jordan where approximately 2.5% of the population are enrolled at any one time. There students may follow bachelors, masters, and doctorate courses, be educated as teachers, or follow non-traditional distance-learning courses too.
The oldest tertiary institution is the University of Jordan established in 1962. Close to 40,000 young people are enrolled there, at what is regarded as among the most prestigious universities in the Arab world.