Transforming education: the power of ICT policies - Commonwealth ...

atio increased from 71% to 98.2% and net enrolment in basic education increased from 89% in 2000 to 96.5% in
2005/06. According to World Bank data, 2007 gross enrolment rates as a percentage of age group for males was 96%
and 98% for females. Transition rates to secondary education have risen dramatically from 63% to 97% between
2000 and 2006. The public sector is the primary deliverer of education with less than 20% of enrolment in private
schools although the number of private schools have increased steadily in basic and secondary education. In early
childhood the ratio of private to public has decreased with private schools providing 90% of schooling compared
with 93% in 2003.
Jordan currently provides a higher proportion of its public budget for education than most countries. Data from
UNESCO show that public expenditure on education as a percentage of GNP is about 4.9%. 25 This is about 20.6% of
public expenditure, with about two-thirds (13%) of that amount allocated to elementary and secondary education.
Jordan also allocates about 4.8% of primary expenditure for teaching materials – which gives Jordan the relatively
high rank of 9th out of 30 countries in a recent UNESCO Institute for Statistics survey.
Commencing in 2003, the Government started a broad-ranging reform programme for basic and secondary
education as well as interventions to support higher education. In the case of kindergarten to grade 12, the reform
was referred to as Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy (ERfKE I) involving eight donors including the World
Bank. 26 This programme was in mid-2010 when a second phase (ERfKE II) will commence. ERfKE I has been judged
as highly successful in achieving its main outputs: (i) formulating a strategic development plan for the sector; (ii) redefi
ning the learning outcomes for grades 1 to 12; (iii) developing new curriculum, teacher guides, learning resource
materials and learning assessment tools for all subjects; (iv) delivering intensive teacher training; (v) equipping
schools with ICT infrastructure and related e-learning resource materials; (vi) building new schools; and (vii)
initiating quantitative and qualitative development of the early childhood development sector. Within ERfKE I,
there have been extensive commitments to ICT in education.
The Government has committed in the next phase of its education reform program, to focus on the quality of
education and to ensure that the returns from a quality education are improved. ERfKE II will involve fi ve
components: (i) establishment of school-based development system; (ii) policy, planning, M&E and organizational
development; (iii) teaching and learning resources; (iv) special focus on early childhood development, vocational
training, and special education; and (v) quality physical learning environments. There will be a continued priority
to ICT in education.
In 2003, the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI) was formed as a public-private partnership as a product of collaboration
between the Government and private enterprise, facilitated by the World Economic Forum. In 2008, a separate
corporation in its own right was established, under the sponsorship of Her Majesty Queen Rania. The JEI’s focus
included guidance for 100 public schools in the areas of in-classroom technology, e-curriculum development and
training (referred to as Discovery Schools where all JEI products were piloted prior to the Kingdom-wide launch
by the Ministry of Education). Additional areas of focus included lifelong learning and ICT industry development.
The JEI assumed the lead role in enabling the MoE in the development of e-curriculum through its private-public
partnership model. The e-curriculum for Grades 1–12 commenced in 2003 and was completed for nine different
subject areas in 2008 with the earliest content, for mathematics, formally being launched in 2004. Recently, the JEI
was awarded a UNESCO prize as an agency that has demonstrated considerable success for ICT in education best
initiatives.
The link between the MoE and the JEI has been a key element in enabling dialogue on policy as well as enabling
signifi cant products and services for ICT in education. Other strong partnerships for the MoE include its liaison
with the Ministry of Labour (MoL) to ensure that changes in the education system are closely linked with the
Government’s priority of labour market transformation. Actual enrolment in vocational education institutions was
12% in 2005 and has remained relatively constant. For this reason, and the increased need for qualifi ed graduates,
ERfKE II has a strong focus on vocational education linked directly with similar efforts in the MoL.
25 http//www.nationmaster.com/graph/edu_on_tea_mat_education_spending_on_teachinh_material.
26 Donors include Islamic Development Bank, Arab Fund, CIDA, USAID, JICA, DFID, and the EU.
102 | Transforming Education: The Power of ICT Policies