Honoured Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah, who has graciously lent her patronage to this event, I am pleased to welcome this distinguished congress to Jordan. I would like to thank Mr. Charles Quigley, the Executive Director of the Center for Civic Education, for selecting Amman, Jordan as the site for the Center's Ninth Annual International Congress. I would also like to thank the Centre for its contributions over the years in international education. The Center has worked tirelessly, creatively and effectively to engage young citizens in the practice of democracy.

I would like to thank our American colleagues who were so supportive when the Kingdom of Jordan began pilot projects in civic education and who have continued to support our efforts. I have followed with pride and interest the development of Jordan Center for Civic Education under the direction of Ms. Mona Alami and of the Arab Civitas regional network coordinated by Ms. Mona Darwish Al Shami. I would like to express my appreciation for their work. I would also like to acknowledge the work of Ministry of Education staff in coordinating civic education activities throughout the Kingdom of Jordan.

Ladies and Gentlemen

I am honoured to have been invited to make this plenary address to you. This event marks another milestone in Jordan's support for civic education and I am pleased to have this opportunity to review our achievements in this regard

In Jordan we aim, through political economic and social reform, to achieve democracy and a modern civil society based on our noble Islamic Arab values as was recently expressed by his Majesty King Abdullah II in his speech to the Conference of the Arab and South American Countries in Brazil.

Democratization has been increasing in the last few years in all areas of life.  Efforts are still being exerted to make democracy part of our daily life in families, schools, public life and mass media.  This means extending freedoms and the right to speak, express opinions and respect others' opinions.  This represents a challenge to the educational system that has to cope with preparing generations that appeal to reason, to reduce individuality, to respect creativity and to be loyal to society.

The world today, as we all know, is highly dynamic.  This entails the preparation of citizens for the future that are capable of tackling problems objectively, analyzing situations and making informed decisions.  Due to the technological advances in communication, media and technology and the rapid occurrence of global events, the obstacles that used to separate nations and hinder the communication of these events no longer exists.  Information sharing among cultures has become easier.  Education is no longer isolated from the problems, issues and events occurring all around the world and it is important to connect the educational process to current events. 

Over the past decade we have increased the focus on civic education as part of the broader social and economic reforms.  I would like to highlight some of these areas of focus.

In the area of curriculum and textbooks we have achieved the following:

One of the important changes made to our curriculum during the past few years was the approval of the introduction of National and Civic Education as a separate subject.  Previously civic education had been included using a cross-disciplinary approach in many subjects such as social studies, Arabic Language, and sciences.  This subject aims at preparing good citizens who understand the meaning of citizenship and the relationship between rights and responsibilities. We believe that the way for a society to develop is to base its citizenship values upon freedom and the informed responsible attitude of its citizens.

Under the Education Reform for Knowledge Economy initiative which began in 2003, guidelines were developed for National and Civic Education that include topics from the subjects of history, geography and civics. These guidelines were developed within the context of the new Curriculum and Assessment Framework and the national goals for education.  National and Civic Education is allotted one period a week from the fifth to the tenth grades.  It is taught according to an integrated, sequential curriculum that includes various political, social, economic, legal, administrative and environmental concepts, in addition to some extracts about the history and experiments of other countries.  The curriculum emphasizes having students practice critical thinking and problem solving.  It also provides students with an understanding of our civic and national culture, their roles in the society, their rights and responsibilities, the different institutions in their society, and how to deal with and develop these institutions. It aims at developing citizenship among our students and deepening their loyalty and belonging to their Jordanian homeland, and to the Arabic and Islamic nation.  Students are required to participate in voluntary service that enables students to practice community service and connect them to their communities.

There are three other resources for teachers in the area of civic education that I would like to highlight. The first of these is Project Citizen a programme that introduces students to and educates them in the methods and procedures used in our political process in order to develop their commitment to active citizenship.  In 2002, the Ministry of Education launched Project Citizen under the title of the Civic Education Project as a pilot project and since then large numbers of social studies coordinators, teachers, and students have become involved from all educational directorates in the country and the University of Jordan. The project provides students with information about government policies and issues and a problem solving methodology and asks them to solve real problems of civil society. The Ministry of Education trained 50,000 students and 10,000 supervisors and teachers in civic education concepts and practices as part of the project. The students were able to investigate problems such as environmental pollution, elections, and unemployment.  In their research the students defined the problem, collected related data from different sources, analyzed the data, and suggested solutions and alternatives from their own points of view.

The best three projects in each governorate will be selected for a national contest supervised by the Ministry of Education and given awards.  In addition, the Ministry of Education will hold a national conference at which students will present their solutions to local community problems.  Later, the projects will be published in a journal.

This programme is being implemented in cooperation with many interested governmental and non-governmental organizations such as the National Center for Developing Human Resources and charitable organizations.  There are 110 associations that have objectives that are similar to that of civic education such as the associations interested in environment, water, women and children's rights as well as the national institutions like universities. 

The second programme is Foundations of Democracy which helps students to develop the ability to identify issues that require social action.  The curriculum is organized around the four concepts of authority, privacy, responsibility, and justice and is being progressively developed in Arabic by the Centre for Civic Education Studies in collaboration with Arab Civitas.

The third programme is one that is currently under discussion with the Jordan Education Initiative an innovative project supported by the World Economic Forum and consisting of a number of partnerships of international and Jordanian companies that support curriculum reform through the development of e-curriculum materials.  Under the Jordan Education Initiative we have been pleased to accept the support of the Middle East Partnership Initiative in developing e-learning materials in the area of civic education which will be consistent with the national curriculum.  We expect this project to be underway in the next few months.

In the textbooks for the first four years of schooling, civic education values are integrated into the social studies books.  From grades 5-10, there is a separate book for National and Civic Education. 

There are also new developments in the area of training.  Due to the newness of the civic education curriculum and its cross disciplinary nature, there were no specialized teachers in civic education. However, in the future the Ministry of Education will conduct pre-service training and rehabilitation programmes for teachers appointed to teach civic education.  Currently, there are two courses for training teachers of civic education in Jordan.  Academic training concentrates on enriching teachers' knowledge regarding the topics and areas covered in the civic education textbooks.  Skills training focuses on providing teachers with the competencies that are necessary for teaching civic education in a way that makes students the center of the educational process.  For example, teachers act as facilitators and teach civic education concepts through field projects and activities.

In other areas related to civics education, the Ministry has implemented many projects in cooperation with international organizations like UNESCO in the fields of comprehensive education, population education, international understanding and institutional competency.  Among the outstanding examples in our schools are Friends of Environment Clubs and School Parliaments.

Establishing an international network in the field of civic education might be a way to reinforce these efforts, perhaps through UNESCO, an international organization which has numerous members in the fields of education.

We are also pleased to coordinate our work in this area with the Jordanian Center for Civic Education Studies. The Centre was established in Amman in 2003 and promotes civic awareness amongst the Jordanian population focusing their aspirations in such a way as to enable them to become active citizens who are aware of their rights and responsibilities and those of others.  The Centre works with schools, universities, students governments, NGOs and civil society organizations and is a member of the Arab Civic Education Network (Arab Civitas)

Educating citizens to be informed, effective and responsible participants in a constitutional democracy is not easy, quick or inexpensive.  But, if a society wishes to be free and open, good civic education is imperative.

Ladies and Gentlemen

Ladies and Gentlemen

In conclusion, I wish you the best in attending the congress and in your discussions on this subject that is so critical for the future social health of our young people and of the world. I hope that our Jordanian hospitality has lived up to its traditionally high standards. Thank you for visiting the Kingdom.  We wish you the best for the rest of your visit.