jordan pulse -
The World Bank has transferred $7.5 million as a new payment for a project that supports reforming the education sector in Jordan, which raises the total payments of the project, including loans and grants, since its approval in 2017, to $200 million.
According to data seen by the "Kingdom", the bank disbursed $7.425 million this June for the project, which aims to expand the provision of early childhood education services, improve student assessment, and teaching and learning conditions for Jordanian and Syrian refugee children.
The value of the World Bank's obligations for the project amounts to approximately $300 million, funded for the benefit of the Ministries of Education and Public Works and Housing, while approximately $100 million remains as subsequent payments.
In December 2017, the World Bank agreed to finance the project with an initial commitment of $147.7 million, and in June 2020 it also approved additional financing of $81.4 million. The value of the grants provided for the project amounts to $70.9 million, while the government is committed to providing $622 million for the project.
The project supports the expansion of access to early childhood education for more than 32,000 children, as well as the formulation of a new framework for professional standards and evaluation for teachers, and the associated training for teachers, and the piloting of a new system to ensure the quality of early childhood education, and the definition of evaluation New pupils, students and hybrid learning strategies.
The World Bank, when approving the additional financing, made it clear that it set a goal that supports the Jordanian government's efforts to address the education challenges resulting from the novel coronavirus pandemic, increase enrollment in pre-primary education, and transfer the "Tawjihi" general secondary certificate to a digital system based on competency.
At the time, the bank affirmed its commitment to support Jordan in facing the multiple effects of the outbreak of the Corona pandemic, and allocated technical and financial resources to help Jordan enhance its response at the health sector level and provide emergency cash transfers to poor families who have lost their source of income.
The additional funding for the project is supposed to support the Government of Jordan's goal of enrolling all five-year-olds in school starting from the 2020-2021 academic year.
The project also supported additional interventions specifically to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the sustainability of distance learning innovations that were implemented as a result of school closures and to ensure minimum health and safety standards that would allow for a safe return to schools.