Jordan Times
Friday, June 1, 2007
Library books encourage
creativity
AMMAN (AP) — Jordan has launched a US-funded library book programme in its
public primary schools to encourage critical thinking in an effort to move away
from rote education.
More than two million books belonging to the “My Arabic Library” collection are
being used in 2,000 public schools in the country, said Fatenah Amawi, Jordan’s
representative for the New York-based publisher Scholastic Corp.
“My Arabic Library” includes novels and science books that have been translated
into Arabic for students in grades one to six in the Middle East.
“There were challenges at first, of course,” Amawi said. “But when the teachers
discovered there were no hidden agendas in the books, they’ve been very keen to
use the books and to encourage the children to read them,” she added.
Scholastic, along with US State Department funding, has sent more than seven
million translated children’s books to schools in Jordan, Bahrain, Iraq, Lebanon
and Morocco over the past two years.
The funding amount from the US Middle East Partnership Initiative was not
immediately available, according to a US embassy spokesman in Amman.
Scholastic said it consulted with education officials in the Middle East to
choose the titles and make changes to some of the texts to adapt to cultural
differences. It has also provided training sessions for teachers on how to use
the books in the classroom.
On Wednesday, Hadassah Lieberman, the wife of US Senator Joseph Lieberman,
toured the Um Habiba Elementary School in Amman to see the books in action.
“As women, we are powerfully involved in the education of our families and our
communities,” she told The Associated Press. “The Scholastic programme is very
exciting.”
Suhair Jarrah, a principal at the school that features a unique mix of female
pupils from various backgrounds, said teachers in her school do not feel
pressure to implement the US government-backed books.
“We don’t feel these books are imposed on us from the
US,” Jarrah said.
“ ‘My Arabic Library’ integrates well with our educational curriculum and the
other material in our libraries,” she added.