QRF’s free educational app wins hearts and minds of children, parents

AMMAN — An educational application developed by the Queen Rania Foundation for Education and Development (QRF) has reached over 100,000 downloads and has been used over a million times two weeks after its official launch.

“We had more modest hopes as we expected to reach 50,000 people in the first month but it actually happened in one week,” recalled Fadia Hamdi, communications officer at the QRF.

According to her, the success of the app comes from the extensive outreach campaign implemented by the foundation. “We partnered with different centres and NGOs such as the Jordan River Foundation, the Makani centres and Zaha centres, among others in order to reach as many people as possible,” she explained, stressing that “we wanted to make it available for every child in Jordan”.

The support of Her Majesty Queen Rania, who attended the launching event on December 4 and joined a group of mothers for an awareness session emphasising the importance of early childhood education as well as parents’ role in shaping their children’s personality and learning skills, also helped boost the app’s visibility.

“We are very grateful for Her Majesty’s support and her endorsement of the app on Twitter and Facebook. This truly helped expand our outreach,” Hamdi noted. 

Designed for Arabic-speaking children between the ages of three and six, “Karim and Jana” features five “fun and educational games”, through which children can develop their mathematical, linguistic and social skills. The mobile application also provides parents with a free learning resource that prepares their children for school in their formative years. 

Commenting on the app, Tosy Abed, a mother of two, said: “This app helps children learn in a special and creative way and is very well adapted to all age groups.”

For Ahmad Almansi, a father of four, “this app helps children’s development and I can see my kids progress very quickly thanks to this it. It focuses on developing kids’ abilities progressively and rewarding their progress”.

According to recent studies, more than a third of children in Jordan between the ages of three and six have never been taught letters, numbers, or words, while over a third of mothers in Jordan do not read to children under the age of five. 

Furthermore, Jordanian children’s enrollment rates in kindergartens and nurseries have been found to be very low compared to other middle-income countries. 

“QRF’s first mobile application comes as part of its support of the National Strategy for Human Resource Development, which outlines national priorities, including early childhood education and development, for implementation by the ministries of education and social development, in collaboration with NGOs and the private sector,” a QRF statement said.

Through “Karim and Jana”, children can learn to count to 20, identify two and three dimensional shapes, understand basic addition and subtraction, and build listening and comprehension skills through stories and songs. The app also features an adventure game, which uses interactive play principles to take children on a journey across Jordan.

“There is a huge gap in the educational opportunities available to our children that have many economic implications. This gap will continue to widen if we do not find suitable solutions, therefore it is very critical that we provide free and accessible education to our children,  and create essential opportunities for learning and interacting at home through technology. Our goal is to provide parents with free and easy ways to stimulate learning for their children, to help them acquire the skills they need during their first years at school,” QRF’s CEO Haifa Dia Al Attia said.

Established by Her Majesty in 2013, QRF aims to be a leading regional resource and incubator for new and innovative ideas and initiatives in education. The foundation’s work is focused on identifying gaps and opportunities for developing new education programmes, as well as influencing policy and creating transformational change on the ground, according to its website.

“Karim and Jana” is available for free download for Android from Google Play and for iOS from the App Store.