Ammon News - Jordan’s Higher Population Council (HPC) has participated in the 56th session of the Commission on Population and Development (CPD), recently convened in New York under the theme "Population, education, and sustainable development".

According to a statement by the HPC on Sunday, the Council’s Secretary-General, Issa Masarweh, delivered Jordan's position paper on the session’s theme, noting it was put in collaboration with all national stakeholders.

"Jordan uses the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a foundation for its policies and programs, and has made two voluntary presentations to the UN on the agenda's progress," he said.

In addition, he noted, Jordan has made a voluntary national presentation on the SDG4 for education in compliance with the Transforming Education Summit. The summit, held in 2022, covered the recovery of education losses brought on by the Covid-19 pandemic, with a focus on children with disabilities and refugees, the provision of safe and healthy learning environments, and the facilitation of support systems that are open to all children.

As Jordan experienced dramatic demographic changes during the first two decades of the third millennium, with the population reaching 11.4 million by the end of 2022, Masarweh pointed out that it had a significant impact on its educational system. As a result, Jordan has worked over the past 20 years to improve the effectiveness of its educational system by concentrating on developing human resources and expanding access to high-quality education.

"Jordan is attempting to focus on the early childhood development stage despite its limited resources, which is why, as indicated in its promises connected to the World Education Summit 2022, it tends to view the second stage of kindergarten (KG2) as a mandatory stage," he added.

He pointed out that Jordan has made great achievements in ensuring access to primary and secondary education, as well as closing the gender gap, and providing qualified teachers, noting that enrollment rates in K-12 education are among the highest in the region, and that the illiteracy rate has fallen to less than 5 percent.

Commenting on eradicating gender-based inequalities in primary and secondary education, Masarweh said that Jordan has made great progress in this area as it has been incorporated into the Ministry of Education's strategic plan, along with concepts of human rights and the promotion of gender equality in curricula and textbooks.

In terms of higher education, he stated that Jordan has a notable system that is reflected in the number of foreign students who attend Jordanian universities, as well as the high demand for Jordanian university graduates to work in Arab, regional, and global public and private institutions.

The Secretary-General indicated that the progress made by Jordan in the education sector cannot be seen in isolation from a number of major challenges that have clearly surfaced due to the complex effects of the Corona pandemic, global economic crises, and regional political unrest, which resulted in a large number of refugees and limited the capacity of several sectors due to the increasing demand on supply and infrastructure.

In this regard, Masarweh emphasized the need for funding mobilization at both regional and international levels in order to address infrastructure gaps in education, and ensure the promotion of the right to quality education for all.