Jordan Times
Wednesday, May 25, 2005
US education secretary
tours discovery school
By Mohammad Ghazal
AMMAN — US Secretary of Education Margaret
Spellings on Tuesday visited the Iskan Al Jamiaa Secondary Girls School, one of
the Jordan Education Initiative's (JEI) 100 “discovery schools.”
The JEI — a pilot project to transform 100 discovery schools into model
facilities where technology is at the service of learning and teaching, and
information technology was integrated in education — was launched during the
2003 World Economic Forum in Jordan.
Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Khalid Touqan, Spellings and the accompanying delegation toured the school's
classrooms, as well as the maths and Cisco labs, and spoke with the students.
Spellings, who was accompanied by US Charge d'Affaires David Hale, was briefed
by the students on their experience in using the Cisco lab.
“We have seen major changes in our schools and they are moving ahead to become
models in the Kingdom and the region,” Touqan told the press following
yesterday's tour.
“All the change and reform that has been taking place in our schools is the
result of a partnership between the public and the private sectors, through the
Ministry of Education, local IT companies and the major global IT players,”
Touqan added.
“We are all in the same boat and the challenges that face the educational system
in Jordan are similar to the ones in the US, such as how to link remote schools
and how to encourage teachers to remain in remote villages, Touqan said.
Spellings told reporters she was “tremendously impressed by the work here in
Jordan, to see these models in action and to see this public-private partnership
and intergovernmental partnership with Cisco, Microsoft, IBM and others.
She commended the integration of IT in the Kingdom's discovery schools, “a
model, which can be spread across the world.”
Underlining the importance of technology, “which is making the world a much more
smaller place,” Spellings said: “In my own country 80 per cent of the fastest
growing jobs are in IT and healthcare and in advanced manufacturing.”
The JEI includes the following programmes: World Links, Intel Teach to the
Future, Maktabati Al Arabiya (My Arabic Library), International Education
Resources Network (IEARN), CISCO Networking Academy and Health Academy Class.
The project has equipped 95 per cent of the Kingdom's schools with at least one
computer lab. Furthermore, there are approximately 90,000 computers in schools
across the country at present — a figure, which, according to the Ministry of
Education, is expected to increase in the near future.
Also yesterday, Prime Minister Adnan Badran met separately with Spellings, Saudi
Minister of Education Abdullah Ben Saleh Obeid and Bahraini Minister of
Education Majed Ben Al Nuaimi. Discussions covered cooperation in the field of
education.
The Premier was briefed on the outcome of the ministerial meeting on education
in which more than 30 Arab, Islamic and G-8 countries took part.
Meanwhile, Touqan held separate meetings yesterday with the education ministers
of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, France, Japan, Russia and Ireland, the Jordan News
Agency, Petra, reported.