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Jordan broadening knowledge and skills base

Thursday, 27 May 2010 00:13

Jordan is looking to build on its impressive educational credentials, stepping up efforts to broaden the country's knowledge and skills base.

The education system already receives top marks on a number of regional and international indices, having one of the highest adult literacy rates in the Middle East and North Africa region and a 97% completion rate for students at the primary level.

According to a World Bank report released in April, Jordan has initiated a series of comprehensive education reforms to capitalise on its strong record of education completion and adult literacy, improving school buildings and learning environments.

One of the centrepieces of Jordan's long-term scheme to further raise learning standards is the Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy (ERfKE) project. Backed by a number of overseas groups, including the Canadian International Development Agency, Japan International Cooperation Agency, the World Bank and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the $410m programme aims to lift Jordan's education system to the next level, going beyond the provision of basic skills to providing those needed in a modern knowledge-based economy.

To date, some 85,000 teachers are being given training on International Children's Digital Library software, more than 2800 schools have been connected to online learning portals and some 70% of Jordan's primary and secondary students are now using the internet for educational purposes on a regular basis, the World Bank report said.

In order to continue this progress, Jordan and the World Bank signed an agreement at the end of last year that sees the international lender providing a $60m soft loan to Amman to fund the next stage of ERfKE, which includes bolstering the pre-tertiary education sector.

Speaking at the time, the minister of planning and international cooperation, Jafar Hassan, said the funding would help the government maintain the momentum of reform and promote development in the future.

"Investing in sound and equitable educational projects makes good economic sense, and a major scaling-up of investment in the education sector is essential for creating the opportunities that are necessary to providing a better life for the citizens," the minister said.

Though making good economic sense, and despite the government's commitment to raise the educational bar, there remain a number of obstacles to achieving all of the targets that have been set, not least of which is the increasing pressure on the national budget.

Having run up a deficit of $2bn last year, equivalent to 9% of GDP, Jordan has had to look at ways to rein in spending. This is in part a result of a reduction in the flow of funds from some of the country's traditional sources of fiscal support, such as foreign donors and remittances from expatriates working overseas.

In mid-March, the finance minister, Mohammad Abu Hammour, announced plans to slash $1.4bn from the state budget, part of a programme to reduce the deficit to 6.3% this year and ultimately bring it down to 3% within four years.

"This is the first time in many years we are reducing public expenditure by such a large extent and putting a brake on unrestrained government spending," Hammour said in an interview with the international press on March 16.

While it was spared some of the sharpest cuts inflicted on other state agencies, the education portfolio still saw its slice of the budgetary cake reduced, with the allocation being lowered from the 2009 total of $777.4m to $706m for this year. Of the $71m in cuts, $42.6m came from the capital expenditure segment of the ministerial budget and $28.4m in current expenses.

However, even with a reduction in funding, education still remains one of the chief beneficiaries of the state budget, being allocated almost 10% of projected outlays for 2010. Though Amman is having to learn to live within reduced means, Jordan is still investing in its human resources.

Global Arab Network

This article is published in partnership with Oxford Business Group

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