Jordan Times
Friday, November 5, 2004
Agreement facilitates
computerisation of Arabic language curricula
By Rami Abdelrahman
AMMAN — As part of a process to reinforce Jordan's e-learning initiative, an
agreement was signed yesterday between the Ministry of Education and France
Telecom to facilitate the computerisation of the Arabic language curricula for
schools.
The 640,000 euro agreement falls within the framework of the Jordan Education
Initiative (JEI) for e-learning and stipulates that France Telecom will manage
and finance the project of computerising the Arabic language curriculum for
grades 1-12, to be operational by 2006.
After the signing ceremony, Minister of Education Khalid Touqan said the
agreement is part of a national strategy to upgrade the efficiency of the
educational system by increasing its effectiveness, developing the
infrastructure to provide modern and useful knowledge, and meet the requirements
of economic development.
“The content of the project, which covers 480 hours of e-learning curricula at a
cost ranging between $1,000 to $5,000 per hour, will be developed by Jordanian
Arabic teachers to localise it to cater for students' needs,” Touqan told The
Jordan Times yesterday.
He added that France Telecom and other partners would be in charge of the
technical side of the project, namely computerising the content and providing
advanced multimedia tools to help in the education process.
Touqan said that with the help of Jordan Telecom and others, the ministry will
be able to complete the connection of 2,700 schools in an IT network during 2005
— a year that will also witness the complete deployment of the first JEI
curriculum, mathematics, in all 100 Discovery Schools.
France Telecom's Jean Paul Cottet told reporters that his company is not only an
investor in Jordan, but also a strategic partner committed to the strengthening
of relations between both countries.
“We are known for our technology, research and development, and I believe that
technology is meaningless if no one knows how to make use of it,” said Cottet.
He noted that his company “feels proud” to sign this agreement and “contribute
to making Jordan an important country in the field of e-education and the
development of its ICT society.”
France Telecom's contribution will not only include financing, but also
cooperation with Enic Telecom Lille (Enic), which will provide the know-how,
methodology and general guidance on digitising the materials according to the
requirements of the ministry.
Other partners include e-Dimension, a Jordan Telecom Group subsidiary, which
will be responsible for the integrating and digitising of e-content, in
accordance with Enic guidance.
The final agreement, signed Thursday, came after both parties had signed a
memorandum of understanding last May at the World Economic Forum at the Dead
Sea.