Jordan Times
Tuesday, July 13, 2006
Minister of Planning and
International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali reviews educational progress at Dead Sea
conference
By Rana Husseini
DEAD SEA — Jordan has spent almost $1 billion on
reforming its education system since 1998, Minister of Planning and
International Cooperation Suhair Al-Ali said on Sunday evening.
The minister made the remarks during a session on “Making a Difference: Lessons
Learned from Major Initiatives to Date,” part of the ongoing activities of a
three-day women’s conference.
“Mobilising for Action,” held at the Dead Sea under the patronage of Her Majesty
Queen Rania, is focusing on infant mortality and girls’ education.
“Jordan embarked on a comprehensive educational reform process in the past
decades to improve its educational system in order to address the major human
resource development needs of the country,” Al-Ali said.
The 10-year education reform package, according to Al-Ali, seeks to improve the
quality and relevance of education by restructuring the curricula to focus on
developing students’ problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, and link
academic knowledge to real life.
Turning to the issue of human resource development, Al-Ali said it was a
priority in Jordan, where the population is seen as the country’s main resource.
“Perhaps the most important reason for Jordan’s impressive human development
record in the past half century has been the country’s sustained focus on
educating all its citizens, males and females alike,” the minister said.
According to the minister, investing in girls’ education enables them to “fulfil
their potential as children and later as mothers in ensuring their children’s
well-being. Their contribution in society multiplies the economic productivity,
consequently reducing poverty.”
Jordan’s investment in education has paid off handsomely, as is demonstrated by
a soaring literacy rate, the minister said.
In 1960, only 33 per cent of Jordanians aged 15 and over could functionally read
and write, she explained.
After decades of pro-education governmental policies, however, 90 per cent of
the country was literate in 2005, Al-Ali added.
“Investing in our human resources has always been the guarantor of our economic
growth, as well as the guarantor of the success of our political reform and the
vehicle of integration into the 21st century,” she added.