Education

BACKGROUND

Jordan’s people are the country’s greatest asset and maximizing their potential to contribute to Jordan’s stability and economic growth is a key priority for the Government of Jordan. Delivering quality education is fundamental to ensuring that the country’s large youth population has the necessary skills to play a positive role in the county’s future. Jordan has made great progress in increasing access to education, with nearly universal primary enrollment and gender parity in Jordanian schools. However, despite widespread access to education, challenges remain. Schools are overcrowded and in varying states of disrepair, teachers receive limited training and support, and learning outcomes remain low. By grade three only 34 percent of children read at grade level. A growing population of Jordanians and the influx of refugees have stressed Jordan’s public education system, and children and youth who fall out of the system lack opportunities to get back on track. The COVID-19 pandemic has added additional pressure on the Ministry of Education to deliver education despite school closures.

In 2018, the Ministry of Education launched its five-year Education Strategic Plan to ensure that all children and youth can gain the skills and knowledge to succeed in a 21st-century knowledge economy. USAID supports the Government of Jordan as it expands access to quality education for children and youth, improves recruitment and training of quality teachers, and develops sustainable and self-sufficient education sector planning and administration.

AREAS OF FOCUS

Strong Educational Infrastructure

Jordan lacks enough well-equipped educational infrastructure to serve the Kingdom’s nearly 1.4 million public school students. USAID partners with the Ministries of Education and Public Works and Housing to build, expand, and rehabilitate schools in underserved areas throughout the country to reduce overcrowding and ensure that teachers and students, including students with disabilities, have access to safe and fully equipped spaces that facilitate learning. 

Supportive Learning Environments

USAID works with the Ministry of Education to foster positive learning environments by strengthening Arabic reading and math performance in early grades, training teachers to ensure schools are safe and supportive, preparing new teachers to enter the classroom, and encouraging parent and community engagement in the public school system to create a sense of ownership and accountability. USAID also supports non-formal education centers throughout the country to offer out-of-school students the opportunity to complete their education and pursue employment.

Response to COVID-19

When the COVD-19 pandemic caused a nationwide school shutdown, USAID supported the Ministry of Education to procure equipment to produce digital distance-learning content, create video lessons, deliver workbooks to students without digital access, and coach teachers and parents to help children in Kindergarten through Grade Three learn through lessons on television and digital platforms.

NOTEWORTHY ACHIEVEMENTS

• From 2007 to January 2020, USAID expanded equitable access to education by building, rehabilitating, and expanding over 370 schools. This work, conducted in conjunction with teacher training, reduces overcrowding in the classroom, advances accessibility for students with disabilities, and provides safe classroom environments throughout the country that are conducive to student learning.

• With USAID support, the Ministry of Education now trains early-grade teachers to improve early-grade numeracy and literacy, which are essential to students’ continuing academic success. A 2019 national early-grade assessment by the Ministry revealed a 10 percent increase in grade-level mathematics comprehension and a 5 percent increase in grade-level reading comprehension for second and third-grade students over the last five years. 

• Since 2015, nearly 700 youth have graduated from USAID’s 43 non-formal education centers, enabling them to re-enroll in the formal education system to continue their secondary education, open a business, or pursue employment. 

• In response to COVID-19, USAID launched a series of workshops for 12,000 early grade teachers at the start of the 2020-21 school year to strengthen their ability to deliver distance learning to their students, and trained approximately 9,000 teachers in 52 locations across Jordan on how to deliver a reading and math catch-up program to Kindergarten through Grade 3 students.

• USAID developed and distributed academic workbooks for 3,600 students entering first grade who did not attend Kindergarten and supported parents remotely to prepare students for the new school year.