Education

Overview

Engineering fellows discuss plans with a contractor at a USAID project site

USAID works with the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education and directly with educational institutions to support their efforts to provide higher quality education. Through its projects, USAID has helped more than 350 teachers improve their teaching skills and 4,000 disadvantaged students continue their education. In close coordination with universities, schools and the Ministry, USAID focuses on improving educational quality and relevance by creating Centers of Teaching Excellence, introducing new teaching methodologies in the classrooms to facilitate learning, providing scholarships for teachers to improve skills, integrating information technology into teaching and learning practices, supporting career counseling aimed at better preparing students to enter the work force; and expanding the impact of early childhood programming.

Goals

• Improve the quality of teaching of educators
• Develop basic education programs which introduce and encourage best practices
• Support leadership, problem-solving, critical thinking, and other life skills to better prepare young Palestinian men and women for the workforce
• Increase youth employability, thereby increasing the individual’s employment opportunities
   

Active Projects

Model Schools Network

Model Schools Network is an institutional capacity building initiative focused on improving the quality of basic education (grades 1-9) in the West Bank and Gaza.  The project focuses on the professional development of teachers and administrators at the model schools, particularly in the areas of English, math, science, and information technology (IT).  The program also emphasizes the development of critical thinking skills to better prepare the next generation for the global economy and for their role as active participants in a vibrant democracy.

Palestinian Faculty Development Program

The Palestinian Faculty Development Program aims to increase the capacity of higher education faculty in the West Bank and Gaza by addressing the long-term issues of reform in teaching and learning practices. The program provides scholarship support for Palestinian faculty to pursue a graduate degree in the United States or to engage in curriculum development, research, or teaching at a partner U.S. university. In this way, the Program promotes the expansion, retention, and professional development of promising academics teaching in the social sciences and humanities. It also revitalizes and reforms teaching in Palestinian higher education institutions. This program is a partnership between USAID, the Open Society Institute, and U.S. universities.

Youth Entrepreneurship Development Program

The Youth Entrepreneurship Development program prepares youth (ages 14-29) for the job market by equipping them with the employability and entrepreneurial skills needed to find employment in the public and private sector or to start their own business. The program will introduce innovative models for both students and non-students to enhance youth employment and entrepreneurial skill building that are commensurate with the needs of the knowledge economy.

Education Reform Project (ERP)

ERP contributes to the ministries of Education and Higher Education’s long‐term goal of improving the quality of basic education. In addition to strengthening the skills of thousands of teachers, principals, and trainees, the project will provide universities with the resources to develop teacher training programs to improve teaching and learning skills. ERP will also help the ministries develop policies that enhance capacity to efficiently implement a system for the qualification of thousands of school teachers.