Jordan Times
Sunday, February 26, 2006
Queen promotes Jordanian-Turkish collaboration in Early Childhood Development, Education
AMMAN (JT) — Her Majesty Queen Rania explored and
promoted Jordanian-Turkish collaborations in the field of Early Childhood
Development (ECD) and Education during a two-day working trip to Istanbul, which
concluded on Friday.
During a press conference on Friday, Her Majesty noted the importance of
ensuring access to, and quality of, education for all its children — girls and
boys — while commending Turkish initiatives in the field.
Queen Rania and Emine Erdogan, wife of the Turkish prime minister, reiterated
the importance of ECD programmes to members of the press.
“Last year, we launched our National Kindergarten Curriculum and currently
99,000 children are enrolled in kindergartens, but we will not rest until every
child has access to a quality preschool education,” Queen Rania said, referring
to the progress Jordan has made in this area.
Queen Rania's trip to the Turkish city included site visits to several prominent
Turkish educational initiatives.
On Thursday, the Queen visited the Caglayan Primary School, which implements
Mother Child Education Foundation (ACEV) Learning Centre programmes.
Dozens of students waving Jordanian and Turkish flags received the Queen, in
addition to ACEV General Manager Aysen Ozyegin, who had visited Jordan late last
year to discuss prospective collaborations between the foundation and Jordan in
the field.
The Queen reviewed the progress of the memorandum of understanding, which was
signed with the National Council for Family Affairs and the United Nations
Children's Fund last year.
During her visit, Queen Rania participated in four programmes implemented at the
school.
In the first, the Mother Child Education Programme (MCEP), Her Majesty engaged
in a candid discussion with the participants on the general benefits of the
programme. The MCEP seeks to empower mothers as potential educators through
multi-purpose nonformal educational models.
At the Father Support Programme, she interacted with participants in a game on
positive discipline methods, discussing the changes in their relationships with
their children, as a result of the programme, which is designed to encourage and
support fathers to take a more positive and active role in their child's
development.
In the Women's Support and Functional Adult Literacy Programme, part of the EU-funded
“Reducing Gender Disparity in Girls Education Project,” the Queen participated
in a discussion on the importance of girls' primary education.
Queen Rania concluded her visit with a stop at the Preschool Parent Child
Education Programme, where she joined a group of children participating in
various exercises.
Meanwhile, on Friday, the Queen visited one of the sites of the Educational
Volunteers Foundation, also known as the Türkiye Egitim Gonüllüleri Vakfi (TEGV),
to observe and interact with children and volunteers participating in the Dreams
Workshop.
Queen Rania chatted with the children, who are regularly bussed into the centre
from local state schools to take part in activities complementing basic
schooling, and their volunteer mentors as they engaged in creating marbling
pictures and clay work in the Dreams Workshop “Life Skills through Art
Activities Programme,” a life skills enhancement programme for volunteers
carried out through creative art and design workshops with children.
The Dreams Workshop project seeks to enhance the self-esteem and communication
skills of youth volunteers, while offering disadvantaged children and
adolescents creative activities, to enable them to become confident, effective
and empathetic community members.
Launched in 2003, the project has supported nearly 800 volunteers and 40,000
children throughout Turkey in creating their future. It is being realised in
Turkey through the Make a Connection programme, a joint initiative of Nokia and
the International Youth Foundation (IYF).
Other activities offered at the centre include IT literacy, cooking up basics —
nutrition, sports for fun, and drama games.
Prior to her departure, the children presented Her Majesty with a painting from
the workshop as a memento of her visit.
TEGV is a nonprofit organisation, which has been working with various
governmental and nongovernmental organisations since its inception in 1995. TEGV
is a member of the IYF, where Queen Rania serves as a board member.
Earlier in the day, the Queen attended the opening session of the Early
Childhood Education for Social and Economic Development Conference. The
conference, held under the theme, Seven is too Late, was organised by ACEV to
further encourage the adoption of ECD programmes in Turkey and throughout the
Middle East.