Ammon News -

 Two agreements were signed on Monday in the Ministry of Education between the UNESCO and Swiss and Canadian governments to support the Ministry's Institutional System Enhancement Program, through the UNESCO Multi-Partner Trust Fund.

The first agreement, which amounts to $1.6 million, was signed on behalf of the Swiss government by Swiss Ambassador Jordan Lukas Gasser and UNESCO Representative in Jordan Min Jeong Kim, while the second agreement, which amounts to an additional $400,000 contribution to the same fund, was signed on behalf of the Canadian government, by Canadian Ambassador to Jordan Donica Pottie, and the UNESCO representative.

The signing ceremony was chaired by Minister of Education, Mohammad Abu Qudais, and attended by ambassadors of Canada, Norway and Italy.

In the signing ceremony, Abu Qudais lauded cooperation ties between Jordan and governments of Norway, Canada, Italy and Switzerland, and the UNESCO, as well as their support for the educational process in Jordan.

He also commended contributions of Swiss and Canadian governments, to provide additional funding, in consolidating the common goal of providing quality education for all in Jordan, through effective and constructive coordination with the Ministry of Education, underlining the ministry's commitment to this partnership.

"In July of last year, the signing of the contribution of the Italian Government to the Multi-Partner Trust Fund in support of the "System Enhancement Partnership with the Jordanian Ministry of Education" program implemented by UNESCO and the Ministry of Education was celebrated," Abu Qudais noted.

He added that Canada was the first country to join the fund in 2019 with an amount of $1 million, followed by Italy in 2020 with 1$1 million, while Norway has provided in-kind support since 2019, by providing a number of senior experts who were hired with UNESCO in the ministry, to enhance the ministry's institutional capacities.

Abu Qudais expressed the ministry's thanks to all contributors to the UNESCO Multi-Partner Trust Fund, which supports the efforts of the education ministry in achieving its goals.

For his part, Swiss Ambassador Jordan Lukas Gasser, lauded the deep-rooted ties between his country and Jordan, stressing that signing the agreement is an evidence of Switzerland's commitment to supporting the educational process in Jordan.

He indicated that this cooperation coincides with the completion of the Swiss bilateral cooperation with the education ministry to rehabilitate 89 public schools that accommodate Jordanian students and refugees in various governorates of the Kingdom, and represents an important step towards our long-term support to enhance governance, decentralization and flexibility of the educational system in Jordan, in line with the strategic plan for education in Jordan.

For her part, Canadian Ambassador to Jordan, Donica Pottie, underscored the significant impact on the education sector as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, noting that while schools were closed in many countries in 2020, Jordan responded quickly to provide remote education for children and this was early and boldly against the crisis.

For her part, UNESCO representative in Jordan Min Jeong Kim indicated that the achievements are a success story in their consistency with the government's plans, priorities and objectives, joint coordination, and continuous response to the needs of the education ministry in line with the sustainable development agenda and goals, especially with regard to the fourth goal of the sustainable development goals related to quality education, the fifth goal related to gender equality, and the seventeenth goal related to partnership.

The UNESCO representative also commended education ministry's efforts and achievements aimed at constantly adapting to the COVID-19 pandemic, adding that "these additional contributions from Switzerland and Canada, in addition to the current support provided by Italy and Norway, will further enhance the education sector's preparedness and crisis response, and focus on activating and developing capacities in the field of risk management and crisis-sensitive planning, from the center of the ministry, to the directorates and schools.

The multi-partner funding aims to enhance and support the system of the education ministry, which is primarily implemented by UNESCO to enhance the collection, use, analysis and reporting of data in the ministry to support the education sector in developing its policies in order to achieve national goals.

The "System Support Partnership" program with the education ministry in Jordan is a program to be implemented over three years (2019-2023), with the aim of supporting the ministry's strategic plan for education, in addition to its focus on supporting the system as one of the basic areas of the strategic plan for education in Jordan.

The ceremony was attended by Italian Ambassador to Jordan Fabio Cassese, Norwegian Ambassador to Jordan and Iraq Tone Allers, the ministry's Secretaries General, Nawaf Al-Ajarmeh, and Najwa Qubailat.