According to UNICEF, Jordan has almost achieved its target of universal access to primary education with 97 percent of children in school since 1979. In the era of COVID-19 it has become pivotal for the Ministry of Education to accelerate learning and develop extra tools for every child especially with the limitations introduced due to the coronavirus crisis which threatens the well-being and health of students if they were to be present at schools.

The COVID-19 pandemic is negatively impacting children’s education around the world. Mar. 15, the Jordanian government closed all schools, kindergartens and universities, impacting 2.37 million students, according to UNICEF.

Educational institutions were shut once more on Sep. 16, following announcements by the Minister of Education Tayseer Al-Nuaimi, adding that the closures will be until further notice.

Mid-September, the number of school students who were infected with COVID-19 out of the total number of cases in the Kingdom reached 2.12 percent, which included 78 school students, 50 teachers and eight school staff members.

Since September, the number of cases increased and more schools shut down which posed further risks on students and further challenges on educational institutions as the restrictions for movement tightened.

In response to the pandemic, the Ministry of Education developed and enhanced tools for distance learning.
Initially, the online educational platform Darsak One was implemented which provided basic educational materials from ministry schools, followed by the platform “Darsak Two” which was enhanced by catering to all student and granted them access to all required materials and lesson.

In attempts to further improve the learning experience, blended learning was introduced. UNICEF Jordan and the Ministry of Education partnered up and launched a program called Learning Bridges, “an innovative blended learning programme”, to help 1 million students recover and accelerate their learning following the pandemic.

According to UNICEF Jordan, “Learning Bridges” is a series of weekly activities based on the core curriculum that will be distributed by schools to all students from Grades 4 to 9 to accelerate children and young people’s learning and support parents, teachers, students and communities to work together to adapt to the new normal of combining learning at home and school.

Nuaimi affirmed that “Learning Bridges is an innovative solution that enables students to recover and accelerate their learning whether schools are open, partially closed or closed. It does so by effectively bridging the link between home and school, technology and textbooks, knowledge and applied learning. Together with UNICEF, the Ministry is making this resource available for every teacher, parent and student from Grade 4 to 9 in Jordan.”

He added that this program is complementary to Darsak Two platform, and the weekly learning activities included in the program shall enable students to apply the concepts covered by the platform practically.

The activities are in line with the weekly curriculum, which will help enhance educational concepts in curricula and address previous learning gaps, indicating that the initiative enables parents and teachers to support their children in compensating for educational losses.

Nuaimi emphasized that students are in need of their teachers’ support, even in distance learning, to offer the necessary advice and feedback on their progress, while referring to the new online training resource available for teachers to introduce how to implement Learning Bridges and to share good practices in distance learning.

He called on teachers, parents, students and schools to employ and invest in these learning materials, so that everyone is able to build together bridges between schools and homes and between textbooks, technology and knowledge, in order to achieve life-based learning. Furthermore, the practical aspect of learning is strengthened and the focus shall be on the skill, not the information.

“Children’s learning should never stop, even in the face of a global pandemic like COVID-19,” said Tanya Chapuisat, Representative, UNICEF Jordan. “UNICEF is proud to support the Ministry of Education to develop this new resource that will help recover and reimagine learning for every child.”

In a press statement, the ministry said that although switching to a remote education was not easy, it is currently the best available method in ensuring the students' right to an education in light of the ongoing coronavirus crisis and its repercussions.

On the contrary, UNICEF conducted a study on end-user feedback on distance education in the Kingdom using the Darsak platform, in order to assess student engagement in distance learning.

Surveys were conducted via phones (between Oct. 19 to 29), random sampling via Makani student database, and direct feedback from 450 children (229 females and 221 males) between grade four to nine.

Participants across the Kingdom were as follows:

-22.2 percent in Amman
-15.3 percent in Azraq Camp
-14.7 percent in Zaatari Camp
-12.7 percent in Zarqa
-8.7 percent in Irbid
-7.3 percent in Balqa
-3.3 percent in Jerash
-2.2 percent in Madaba
-2.2 percent in Aqaba
-1.6 percent in Ma’an
-1.3 percent in Karak
-1.1 percent in Ajloun
-0.4 percent in Tafilah

According to UNICEF’s study, 67.8 percent of participants confirmed accessing Darsak, and 32.2 percent confirmed never accessing the online platform, highlighting the importance of enhancing the tools available to accelerate learning for students.

The ministry affirmed that since the start of the pandemic, it has continued to strengthen the Jordanian experience in distance learning by developing all its tools, so that after the crisis is diminished, it can facilitate, support and enhance the traditional education.