Jordan Times
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Jordan ready to implement education plan
AMMAN (JT) — Her Majesty Queen Rania on Tuesday
said Jordan now has the necessary infrastructure to meet all the requirements of
the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI).
The initiative, which has been piloted in 100 discovery schools, seeks to
improve the development and delivery of education through public-private
partnerships, and in the process, help the government achieve its vision for
education to act as a catalyst for social and economic development.
During a meeting of the initiative’s executive council, the Queen said that the
IT infrastructure, training, curricula and administrative systems are now in
place to facilitate its implementation in all schools.
The executive council includes Minister of Education and Minister of Higher
Education and Scientific Research Khalid Touqan, Minister of Information and
Communications Technology Omar Kurdi, the initiative’s CEO, Fawaz Zu’bi, along
with private sector representatives.
Queen Rania urged the Ministry of Education to design criteria to evaluate the
initiative’s performance, including the application of IT and various training
programmes.
Comprehensiveness, balance and sustainability are the key words, she said.
The meeting marked the end of the JEI’s foundation phase and the beginning of
the implementation stage.
The initiative, launched on the sidelines the World Economic Forum annual
meeting at the Dead Sea in 2003, also aims to build the capacity of the local
information technology industry for the development of innovative learning
solutions in partnership with world-class firms.
Another major objective is to help the country build a model of educational
reform that can be exported to and replicated in other countries.
In addition to the WEF, the sponsor of the JEI, the initiative has 25
international private sector partners, especially in the IT sector, 17 local
establishments and 11 government agencies and NGOs.