Education of 1.6 billion children disrupted by pandemic — HCST chairman

AMMAN — Deputising for HRH Prince Hassan, chairman of the Higher Council for Science and Technology (HCST) Adnan Badran on Wednesday attended the opening of 10th Conference of the National Centre for Human Resources Development (NCHRD). 

Under the theme, "Management of Human Resources Development Post-COVID", the event was held at Princess Sumaya University for Technology (PSUT), the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.  

Children were the most affected by the pandemic, Badran said, adding that the pandemic affected the education of around 1.6 billion children. 

He stressed the need to develop educational policies subject to follow-up and evaluation to address education-related losses tied to the pandemic. 

He further said that the rate of learning poverty in the Arab world has risen to more than 50 per cent, and that about 617 million children cannot read following the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Participants in the two-day event, who hail from Jordan, Egypt, Iraq, Yemen, Algeria, the UAE, Libya, Palestine and Sudan, will review  papers tackling the issues of post-pandemic pre-university and university education, human resources development challenges and public-private partnerships.