The Jordanian government attributes its decision, which was taken in October 2022, to confirming… the summer timing It gives economic activities the benefit of the longest possible daylight hours and the stability of communication times around the world, while voices rise from time to time to return to… Winter timeAgainst the backdrop of traffic and organizational accidents in educational institutions.
The problem, according to citizen testimonies to Sky News Arabia, is a delay sunrise When summer time is adopted in the winter, it is up to 7:30, which forces students and workers to go out in times of darkness, creating fog and lack of visibility, in addition to additional risks of the spread of stray dogs.
Student Malak Al-Rudaini tells Sky News Arabia that she is forced to leave the house in the dark hours during her trip to university from her place of residence in Madaba Governorate, south of Oman To the University of Science and Technology in Irbid Governorate, north of the country.
She added, “The journey continues through empty streets during darkness and the formation of fog and rain for about two and a half hours, which means that they leave at five o'clock before dawn, to catch the eight o'clock lecture.”
A previous incident terrifies the people
In their posts under the hashtag winter time, which previously topped the Twitter platform
Remembering the killing of Al-Awadat, in addition to the bus overturning accident, caused families to fear sending their children to universities via public transportation in the early hours, demanding that the government re-adopt winter time and not wait for another tragedy to occur.
For her part, Razan Al-Omari, previously on Twitter, denounced the government’s statement that “human beings are the most precious thing we have,” and added, “We beg you not to cancel winter time. Someone had to die?”
As for Tariq Al-Armouti, he published photos taken while he was leaving for the university, along with a comment stating that the weather condition and “summer” time are not appropriate for students to go to their universities, stressing that “the responsibility lies with everyone and it is not permissible to shirk and escape from it under the pretext of the driver’s mistake alone!”
Change the system
He got used to it Jordan It decided to work in summer and winter time, like many countries in the world, but for economic reasons, it decided in 2022, and for the second time in the past two decades, to install daylight saving time throughout the year.
The first was in 2013 during the era of the Eagles government, and this second during the era of the current government headed by him Bishr Al-Khasawneh Since October 2022, in both experiments, the government has been subjected to widespread criticism and demands to cancel the decision.
It is noteworthy that about (60%) of the countries in the world do not change their time during the year, while (40%) of the countries adopt a system of changing the time during specific times at the beginning of summer and winter.
Additional burdens
Jordanian journalist Ahmed Al-Zboun says that the working hours of higher education institutions force students to leave their places of residence during the dawn hours, which are considered the coldest hours of the day, and that the problems of organizing the sector Public transport Which forces them to travel between more than one bus, placing additional burdens on students that justify their demands to return to work during winter time, especially during the country’s exposure to difficult weather conditions from time to time during the winter season, such as snow, rain, and freezes.
The customer notes, in his interview with Sky News Arabia, that fixing daylight saving time has led to more traffic congestion on the Kingdom’s roads, as rain and the coincidence of workers and students leaving increases the pressure on Transport sector Which needs to be organized, as the government states in its usual statements.
It is noteworthy that many parents direct numerous complaints to the Jordanian media that they leave their homes early and do not find anyone to take their children to school, which has resulted in new economic burdens that could have been avoided, denouncing “how does it increase the wheel of the economy!”
The government is responding again
Meanwhile, the Minister of Government Communications and spokesman commented Jordanian governmentMuhannad Moubaideen, the popular voices calling for a return to winter time, said that the justifications have not changed from before, which is that the motive behind daylight saving time is “economic benefit,” especially in the field of energy saving.
The Jordanian minister added, while speaking to Sky News Arabia, that the Jordanian government is not thinking about returning to winter time at all, as incidents happen in the country at any time, whether in summer time or winter time, noting that what is more important than timing is adherence to the rules. Traffic safety and avoiding excessive speed on the roads; To protect lives.
At the beginning of the current winter semester, the government adjusted school hours and class lesson durations in line with its decision to install daylight saving time to avoid children leaving during the dark hours in the morning period, or entering darkness before the end of the evening period for students.
Expert opinion
For his part, Hussein Al-Khuzaie, professor of sociology at the University of Jordan, told Sky News Arabia that despite the importance of public opinion regarding the establishment of winter time, we must address the root of the problem, represented by social behavior whose illegal actions cause the disaster to occur.
He stressed that an individual's wrong behavior is the main factor in the occurrence of most accidents. Failure to check the safety of vehicles, excessive speed, or even assaulting lives in the early hours result from two things: either an aggressive tendency or latent motives to violate the law that become active if he has the appropriate conditions and the absence of supervision. .
He stressed that this problem is addressed through an in-depth study of social behaviors, repeated awareness, and re-introduction of systems in a way that gradually creates a kind of social awareness among individuals to reach the stage of maturity.
He continued, “This maturity makes the individual aware and convinced of the justifications for the existence of laws and the necessity of adhering to them in order to protect him from the harm resulting from committing them, which prompts him to abide by them without the presence of a supervisor.”
On the other hand, expert and economic analyst Jawad Abbasi believes that the decision has severe harm in addition to the lack of any economic benefit from it.
As for economic analyst Jawad Al-Abbasi, he expressed his opinion, during his interview with Sky News Arabia, by saying:
- Fixing daylight saving time has a detrimental effect on Jordanian education, especially with the decision to amend working hours for public schools and reduce the duration of class hours for evening students.
- The government's change in working hours confirms the current timing error.
- The government’s choice to be on GMT +3 throughout the year is illogical, not based on scientific evidence, and does not benefit anyone.
- Scientifically, daylight saving time in the summer saves energy, but it also has negative psychological consequences due to moving the clock forward and backward twice during the year.
- The logical scientific choice for Jordan is to be at GMT+2 throughout the year or to be at GMT+2 in the winter and GMT+3 in the summer.
- The government cited in its justification at the time of issuing the decision that the United States was directed to adopt daylight saving time throughout the year, but today the United States does not implement it.
In the same context, the Arab Weather website believes that winter time has many benefits, including the following:
- Saving cost of use electricity A.M.
- Saving the costs of using home heating in the morning.
- Providing citizens' awareness of the cumulative psychological pain resulting from waking up in the dark and cold weather to go to school or work.
- Applying a natural simulation of the changing times of sunrise and sunset, while not using it would be a challenge to the surrounding natural conditions.
