Jordan Times
Thursday, September 2, 2004
Queen acknowledges national efforts in launching kindergarten curriculum
AMMAN (JT) — As students headed back to school
for the start of the 2004/2005 scholastic year, Her Majesty Queen Rania on
Wednesday attended the launching ceremony of the National Kindergarten
Curriculum.
The curriculum's formulation stemmed from the necessity to address the needs and
characteristics in the development and education of children during their
crucial formative ages of early childhood.
With education one of the priorities on the national agenda, the Kingdom's
policy attaches serious importance to early childhood education for preschool
children between the ages of four to six.
Launching the curriculum in Wadi Al Seer's Al Rabahiah Elementary School in Badr
Al Jadidah, Queen Rania underlined appreciation for the team's efforts in
developing the curriculum, saying, “we are proud of your efforts which have
culminated with this curriculum that is a model for the Arab world.”
Queen Rania said the comprehensive scheme takes into consideration both the
training as well as theoretical and practical sides of the education process,
adding that the project was carefully studied and aided by partnership with
concerned institutions in Jordan and abroad.
The National Team for Early Childhood Development, established in early 2000 by
the Queen, was entrusted with setting up a framework to establish a national
strategy targeting children in that age group, by formulating an integrated plan
to improve the quality and quantity of education provided to all children.
The Ministry of Education worked with the National Council for Family Affairs (NCFA)
to implement a national project to improve and develop preschool education —
with the support of the Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development
Organisations (AGFUND) — to contribute to developing preschool education and
increasing the percentage of children attending preschools.
Minister of Education Khalid Touqan outlined the project's components, which
seek to enable children to channel their energies and capabilities in a
direction that will facilitate their active participation in the experience of
learning and contribute to its development.
He said there has been a marked increase in kindergarten enrollment and noted
that the importance of early childhood development lies in considering it as an
investment in creating human resources.
NCFA Secretary General Ruweida Maayta briefed attendees on the project's next
phase, explaining that the NCFA and the Education Ministry worked to ensure that
the multidonor “Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy Project (ERfKE)” has
a component on Early Childhood Education that ensures the continuation of
efforts in the area of preschool education.
ErfKE's Early Childhood component has four main subcomponents: Institutional
development, which entails the evaluation and testing of the curriculum,
developing training packages for teachers and administrators, and testing the
draft standards for licensing kindergartens; professional development which
entails training teachers on Early Childhood Education; expansion of
kindergartens which involves the establishment and furnishing of 140
kindergarten classrooms in poor and remote areas and the involvement of
communities which seeks to reach parents of children between 0-8 years of age
with information on child development and rearing practices.
Following the launch of the curriculum, which consists of three sections
including modern principles in educating preschool children, interactive
educational activities and interactive writing activities, Queen Rania toured
the school's kindergarten classroom, observed the class and talked to the
children using the IBM Kidsmart early learning programme. She was also briefed
by Touqan on the preschool text books.
The launch was attended by members of the national team for curriculum
development, NCFA and the Ministry of Education, in addition to representatives
from AGFUND, USAID and IBM who sponsored the development of the curriculum.
In 1994, preschool education was made part of primary schooling, but was not
compulsory. By 2005, the Ministry of Education hopes to increase the number of
children enrolled in kindergartens from 28.5 per cent to 35 per cent, by an
expansion of public preschools in remote areas.
While providing pre-schooling in remote areas, the Ministry of Education is
continuing with its plan to set up preschool facilities in girls' schools in all
the different educational directorates of the Kingdom, averaging 50 preschools
every year.
In 2000, the ministry began modernising pre-schools in nine educational
directorates, which resulted in the establishment of 51 pre-school classrooms
catering to 275 students and supervised by 15 teachers.
In 2003/2004, steady expansion resulted in public preschools rising to 187 with
4,387 students in 203 classrooms, taught by 203 teachers.
Ajloun now boasts the highest number of pre-schools in its directorate, with 17
at the last count. Bani Kinana is second with 12 preschools, Petra has 11, and
Maan has 10.
There are four public pre-schools in Amman, and the same number in Zarqa,
Ruseifa and Salt. In the Jordan Valley and Madaba, there are two preschools
each.
The Education Ministry provides various services to the governmental preschools,
by hiring certified and trained teachers, distributing teaching and educational
manuals and providing audiovisual equipment, as well as computers, outdoor and
indoor toys.
In the private sector, 1,212 preschools were recorded for the year 2003/2004,
registering 74,814 students, distributed amongst 3,995 classrooms with 4,361
teachers. The highest concentrations of private pre-schools are in the capital,
Amman, followed by Zarqa and Irbid, with the least in the Jordan Valley, Shuneh
and Petra.