Jordan Times
Sunday, November 21, 2004
Meeting discusses future of knowledge stations
AMMAN (Petra) — The future of the Kingdom's 100 knowledge stations was the topic of deliberation at a consultative meeting held on Friday by parties involved in a wide-ranging initiative designed to promote access to the digital world and IT resources and training for Jordanians.
Participants included Minister of Education Khalid Touqan, who is also chairman of the Royal Committee for Establishing Jordanian Knowledge Stations and Director General of the National Information Centre (NIC) Yousef Nuseir, in addition to representatives from the Ministry of Planning, UN Development Programme (UNDP) and Women Development Programme.
Panelists reviewed the role of knowledge stations in providing citizens with the chance to utilise IT and communications as an effective tool to serve local communities.
Knowledge stations are also a practical step to accredit IT applications in these communities and promote e-government services.
Speaking to the Jordan News Agency, Petra, Nuseir said the knowledge stations throughout the Kingdom, which were established by the NIC and financed by King Abdullah II Fund for Development, constitute an integrated network that facilitates communication and integration among the various nationwide projects in field of IT.
Nuseir said the meeting highlighted the need to boost the number of knowledge stations in Jordan and distribute them justly on demographic grounds. Participants also agreed that it was time to implement the second phase of the scheme, which includes activities designed to better serve local communities and the plans entailed in the envisioned socio-economic development projects.
In order to achieve comprehensive development in various fields, Nuseir told the agency, the meeting urged that all efforts seeking to provide citizens in the four corners of the Kingdom with access to IT services be unified, stressing that areas far from large urban centres should receive a fair share of these services.
The number of persons enrolled in courses and training programmes organised by knowledge stations stood at 56,350 trainees by the end of last September, the NIC director said.
Meanwhile, the number of people who have taken part in or benefited from other activities and services offered by the stations, such as using the Internet, scanners, printers and typing, stood at 32,000, of whom 40 per cent were females.
The stations have also provided 650 job opportunities.
The Knowledge Station initiative was launched two years ago upon directives by His Majesty King Abdullah. The King Abdullah II Fund for Development was entrusted with the responsibility to bring together the necessary resources for the development and eventual sustainability of the knowledge stations.