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Ammon News - AMMONNEWS - Although Jordan has significantly invested in education services, student learning outcomes remain below international average, the World Bank’s Jordan Economy Monitor showed Thursday.

The report, entitled “Riving Slowing Economy”, indicated that Jordan has invested significant national resources in the provision of education services with around 3.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for pre-tertiary education, which is comparable to international averages and above what might be expected given its per capita GDP.

The student learning outcome is, however, below international averages, affecting the competitiveness of Jordan’s labour force with wide disparities across governorates, it said.

The report indicated that average student performance as measured in international learning assessments is also low and although Jordan outperforms the Middle East and North Africa region in math and sciences, gains have been relatively small and unsteady.

The report showed that many university graduates are out of work and that there is a lack of skilled technicians.

Ensuring that teachers are efficiently deployed to where their skills are most needed is another priority area for teacher reform in Jordan. Due to absence of a purposeful allocation, teachers tend to gravitate towards better-off schools and easiest-to-teach subjects, widening learning inequalities and creating shortages in critical teaching areas, it added.

Mechanisms to incentivise teachers to take up teaching posts in critical subjects are absent, it showed.

To address the situation, the Ministry of Education should strengthen its planning capacity by utilising existing data and employing more robust planning tools, it recommended, saying the ministry could address variations across governorates in terms of enrolment rates in pre-primary and secondary schools as well as in Tawjihi pass rates, the report indicated.

The report, which also shed light on the economic impact of the Arab Spring on Jordan, said Jordan can benefit from its highly educated population to recover.

It added that improving the investment climate is critical to spur the growth and employment that Jordan’s economy urgently needs.

The report showed that the Jordanian economy is affected by both external and internal factors, Ferid Belhaj, director of the World Bank’s Middle East Department, said at the launch of the report in Amman.

“The Syrian crisis affected the economy but also there are vulnerabilities in Jordan that have been there for a long time… They have to do with not enough reforms,” he said, underlining the need to move ahead with reforms.

He also stressed on the pivotal role international aid plays in helping Jordan overcome the challenges it faces.

The country needs to make very bold reforms, Belhaj added.

Saleh Kharabsheh, secretary general of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, said the government will go ahead with reforms in the education sector to develop the capabilities of young Jordanians to increase their competitiveness in the local and external markets.

He added that Jordan is aware of the importance of a quality education sector to strengthen the economy.

“We are also aware that the in the quality of education harms Jordan’s competitiveness,” he said, reviewing several reforms Jordan embarked on in the sector over the past period.

The official also reviewed challenges Jordan faces in light of the Syrian crisis and influx of Syrian refugees.

He said there are 170,000 Syrian students in public schools, which necessitated that 102 public schools work in two shifts.