Queen Rania Commends WorldLinks – Arab Region Efforts in Bridging the Educational Divide
13 May 2004AMMAN - In a statement on the achievements of the WorldLinks – Arab Region (WLAR) program, Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah stated that this program actively contributes to bridging the educational divides through concentrating on education which in turn will provide hope to nations and improve their economic levels.
During her inspection yesterday on the projects and programs implemented by Jordanian pupils from around the Kingdom, which were on display at the Sweifieh Secondary School for Girls, the Queen remarked that what she witnessed was a proof on how much pupils and teachers have equally benefited from the program. She underscored the importance of strategy and adopting a more comprehensive and integrated approach with regards to the funding and planning of the program in the future.
Her Majesty, a member of the WLAR Advisory Council, participated in the first joint annual meeting of the WorldLinks Advisory Council, which took place yesterday at the Four Seasons Hotel and included members of the World Links Advisory Council as well as WLAR's board of directors.
The meeting was attended by Elaine Wolfensohn, wife of the President of the World Bank, Mr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman and CEO of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGorg) and the Arab Network Chair, as well as several other representatives including Ms. Bahia Hariri and Syria's First Lady Asma'a Al Asad, in addition to a number of WLAR board of directors. The meeting aims at presenting the program's action plan, its accomplishments as well as next year proposals.
Mr. Abu-Ghazaleh described the meeting as a historical one to the Arab region, noting that the ultimate goal is to raise the percentage of the program's users in the region pointing out that the tools for development and efforts come from the users themselves and that the Network has worked on providing them with those tools and methods.
He noted that during yesterday's meeting, it was decided that a regional office for World Links based in Jordan will be established, one year from the launch of WLAR in collaboration with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and the Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAGorg). The program's accomplishments could be summarized in that it primarily provides students and educators with the necessary solutions to fill in the technological gap as well as acquire the technological methods, skills and educational resources necessary to prepare both students and educators alike for the knowledge economy aspect of education.
Ms. Hala Taher, the program's coordinator in Jordan said that around 150 schools and 600 teachers and pupils have received the necessary training to implement the requirements of the program which took effect last year in June, 2003. She added that work is in progress to include another 150 schools as well as around 20,000 pupils from around the Kingdom.
On his part, Dr. Khalid Touqan, the Minister of Education and Higher Education stated in a keynote speech on the occasion that the ultimate goal and ambition is to reach 100,000 Jordanian pupils from all over the Kingdom's governates. He pointed to the existence of similar programs in each of Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Dubai and plans to activate the program in Palestine.
He confirmed that the aim of the program in Jordan is to improve educational process outputs, economic opportunities and enhance mutual understanding between the youth sector in all participating countries of the program through technology and internet.
Touqan noted that the long-term goal of the program is to reach a million pupils throughout the Arab region, adding that such programs are there to assist in the reform of the educational process as a whole towards a knowledge economy to bring into effect His Majesty's King Abdullah II vision of Jordan becoming a regional IT hub.
"We are looking for more cooperation from the international network at a time where we are seeking to expand the program in Jordan to include more teachers and pupils, noting that the agreement was signed with partners to make the program reach the 3000 teachers and pupils target within the upcoming 2 years," the Minister said.
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