Office of Her Majesty
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Queen Rania launches plan to renovate Jordan’s public schools and improve
learning environment, calls on private sector, and civil society to contribute
all efforts
(Office of Her Majesty, Press Department – Amman) Her Majesty Queen Rania Al
Abdullah launched, Tuesday, a new plan to renovate Jordan’s public schools and
improve the learning environment. “Madrasati”, Queen Rania’s latest initiative,
will build a partnership between community members and public and private
institutions, to upgrade at least 500 of the Kingdom’s public schools.
The students in attendance, from 100 different schools, were all abuzz with raw
energy as they individually reached out to members of the private sector to
detail the needs of their schools, including safety requirements, basic
amenities, and heating. CEOs and presidents, NGO representatives and media
personalities were pulled in multiple directions by students vying for their
attention and commitments.
Students had set up their own dynamic booths across the showroom so that
potential donors could visualize the unimaginable damage caused by years of
neglect to many of these schools. Over the next five years at least 163,000
students will benefit directly from Madrasati.
In announcing the groundbreaking initiative, Queen Rania said, “Today our
schools have become a social responsibility. It is the responsibility of every
active citizen and every organization working to improve the standard of living
in Jordan, and every company- private or public- that wants a hand shaping the
future of our youth.”
Madrasati is based on the principles of participation and partnership and relies
on the help of private schools and companies to renovate the public schools,
which are in desperate need of basic infrastructure and repair, and to improve
the general environment. Queen Rania urged them to rise to the responsibility
saying “We’re not looking to only make education available to all, but to
improve the environment in which we provide the education. Everyone has a right
to proper schooling at the hands of inspired and inspiring teachers because when
it comes to education Jordan is not just about quantity, it’s about quality.
It’s about how we can shine, how we can light up every corner, every school,
every city, every municipality.”
As she detailed her plans to improve the situation in Jordan, the Queen pointed
to an interactive map of the country, which lit up phase by phase. The main
partners involved in spearheading the initiative are the Ministry of Education,
the Jordan River Foundation, the Jordan Education Initiative, the Royal Health
Awareness Society, the Jordan Education Society, the Children’s Museum, the
Greater Amman Municipality, the Queen Rania Award for Excellence in Education,
UNICEF, INJAZ, and Ruwwad.
As a strong supporter of advancing educational opportunities for students and
teachers in Jordan, Her Majesty has been spending a significant amount of time
touring many of the dilapidated schools around the country to gain more
firsthand knowledge of the needs in these schools in order to address them
effectively and efficiently.
There are over 1.6 million school-age children in Jordan and Queen Rania has
been an outspoken advocate of improving the quality of education for them. From
teacher training to improving the curriculum, Queen Rania hails education as the
key to breaking the cycle of poverty.
Her Majesty expressed her gratitude to all the companies who have committed to
“Madrasati” including Abraj, Mawared, Saraya Al Qabidah, Zain, and individuals
including the Bouchmaoui family and Saeed Darwazeh.
Companies interested in signing on to the initiative can select the areas and or
schools that they wish to renovate.
Also on Tuesday, the Madrasati website was officially launched. For more
information on the initiative, please visit: http://www.Madrasati.jo or call
0800 22 8 66.