Jordan Times
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Experts at Davos panel laud Jordan's Education Initiative
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
DAVOS — Jordan's Education Initiative, officially launched six months ago, was described by experts attending the World Economic Forum as a pioneer project that will place the Kingdom and the Middle East on the right track to compete, thrive and prosper in the technology-dominated 21 century.
For many attending a sideline session dedicated to discussing the initiative at the 34th forum, the Kingdom has emerged as a shining example in taking giant leaps towards connecting Jordanians and familiarising them with the Internet and IT in all spheres of public life. It has also begun to take serious steps towards realising the Intranet connection of all the Kingdom's public schools, developing an e-learning platform, and implementing an ambitious e-government plan.
“We had a very ambitious project, which raised a lot of eyebrows. Now we know we are on the right track not only in terms of Jordan but rather beyond its borders,” His Majesty King Abdullah told IT experts attending the two-hour update meeting.
A group of global high-tech giants launched, in cooperation with the government, the Jordan Education Initiative — a pilot project to transform 100 “discovery” schools into model facilities where technology is at the service of learning and teaching, and information technology is integrated in education.
The initiative is hoped to transform Jordan into a model for future educational reforms and the adoption of ICT in the learning and teaching processes. The project is regarded as highly important considering it serves a country and a region where more than 50 per cent of the population is below the age of 18.
Addressing the meeting, Minister of Education Khalid Touqan said that since its launch at the WEF June meetings Jordan hosted at the Dead Sea, much has been accomplished. Around 111 teachers were trained on the use of technology and the new e-curricula in the classroom, pledges to develop new science and ICT e-curricula were received, scopes of work for the lifelong learning track and local ICT assessment were developed and a programme management office (PMO) was created.
Around six schools are expected to participate in the launch of the first part of the discovery school pilot, introducing a new maths-blended e-learning curricula and new in-classroom technology, in February 2004. The e-maths $3 million curriculum is supported by local company, Rubicon, along with CISCO systems. Other Jordanian companies like Fastlink have also stepped up to the platform and announced intentions to support other educational tracks like science.
The project will serve to later transform all 3,000 of the Kingdom's public schools, learning from the lessons of the “discovery schools” ways in which information and communications technology (ICT) can benefit pupils. Companies committed to the project include giants of the calibre of CISCO Systems, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, Siemens and Sun Microsystems, among others. The strategic partnership with WEF members goes hand-in-hand with a five-year educational reform plan to modernise curricula and teaching methods, putting more emphasis on critical skills, innovative thinking, self-discovery and self-determination.
IT experts attending the session commended Jordan's initial success in the project saying the Kingdom was chosen as the home for the pilot project because of its seriousness and determination in developing ICT and e-learning, as well as its achievements in these sectors including the e-highway project amongst the universities. World Links, an international IT company, and the government have also signed a memorandum of understanding for the training of 300 teachers from 100 schools on how to conduct online collaborative projects with counterparts all over the world.
“This isn't the end, this is just the beginning,” the King told the meeting.