Education Ministry staff begin training on new national strategic plan

AMMAN — Personnel at the Ministry of Education (MoE) on Sunday began undertaking a technical training on monitoring, evaluation and reporting, which aims at best acquainting them with the new National Education Strategic Plan (ESP) 2018-2022.

Launched in March 2018 by the then minister of education Omar Razzaz in collaboration with the UNESCO Amman office, the five-year ESP was designed in line with His Majesty King Abdullah’s vision outlined in his 7th Discussion Paper.

“Regular reports on activities carried out during this workshop will help develop key performance indicators, the mechanisms to develop general framework for results and monitoring and evaluation implementation," ministry's Secretary General Sami Salaitah said as he welcomed the participants, expressing great appreciation for the "ongoing support from UNESCO and the government of Canada". 

UNESCO Education Programme Specialist Yukiko Matsuyoshi underscored the importance of regular Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of the implementation of education plans, saying “this demands that key indicators be defined, a M&E framework is developed, responsibilities are clearly assigned and that action is taken on the findings of the M&E exercises".

Developed with the support of UNESCO and UNESCO’s International Institute of Education Planning (IIEP), the ESP received the financial and technical support of Canada, represented at the event by head of cooperation Karen Mollica.

After thanking the Ministry of Education and the participating staff for their keen participation, she said “education has always been the cornerstone of Canada’s development assistance in Jordan. Your dedication and commitment to this important plan under his Excellency’s leadership has been tremendous so far and we urge you to continue this commitment in order to ensure its success”. 

UNESCO consultant and workshop leader Rakesh Jani proceeded to outline the key objectives of the workshop, noting that the attendees will be acquainted with the six domains entailed in the ESP, including finalising the results matrix, the key performance indicators, the M&E annual reporting and the work plan designed to strengthen M&E capacity. 

Anchored in the goals of the National Strategy for Human Resource Development 2016-2025 (HRD), the ESP follows a participatory and inclusive approach, in line with the best international practices, Razzaz said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times, stressing the need "to get direct feedback from the field".

“People working in the MoE directorates know better than anyone else what challenges need to be addressed and the solutions possible to expand quality education possibilities,” he added.

According to a statement by UNESCO, the ESP works towards achievement of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and, in particular, Sustainable Development Goal 4, which is focused on inclusive, equitable and quality education for all.