In a session headed by Deputy Prime Minister Tawfiq Kreishan on Wednesday, the cabinet decided to make daylight saving time permanent.
The decision came to reduce nighttime working hours after a government study showed that daylight saving time allows public and private sector employees and university students of evening classes to benefit from longer daytime hours.
Regarding school students, the government decided to delay school start to 8:15 am (after sunrise) and the first class to 8:30 am. But schools will open their doors for students at 7:45 am to allow employed parents to drop their children at school before ministries and public institutions working hours begin at 8:30 am.
Study hours at two-phase system schools will also conclude before sunset.
The government left the decision to university administrations to decide what they deem appropriate for university students of morning classes, whose first class already starts after 8:00 am.
The new school durations will take effect from Sunday, October 30th, until November 2nd, 2023.
Before the new decisions, clocks were set back one hour to mark the start of wintertime on the last Friday of October every year, while they are set forward one hour on the last Thursday of February to mark the start of summertime.
About 60 percent of the world’s countries do not switch their time during the year, while the other 40 percent switch over at the beginning of summer or winter.
Source: Jordan News Agency