AMMAN (JT) - Fifteen judges from Amman, Zarqa, Salt, Irbid and other cities began an English language training course at the American Language Centre in Amman this week.
Funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the training is part of a joint effort of the Ministry of Justice and the USAID MASAQ Rule of Law Project to help improve the quality of judicial education in Jordan.
The judges enrolled in the training programme were selected from 57 applicants based on their current proficiency with the English language, according to a MASAQ statement.
They will spend two hours a day for the next 8-12 weeks attaining the advanced level of proficiency necessary to successfully complete a semester-long study tour in the US. The five to seven judges who perform best in these courses will be selected to participate in the USAID-funded US study tour, the statement said.
The tour, which is scheduled to take place early in 2008, will be elemental in enhancing the participants' English language, legal knowledge, and judge craft.
Upon their return, the judges will be expected to become agents of change within the Kingdom's judiciary, implementing the improved practices they have experienced and sharing their knowledge with peers, according to the statement.
"The Ministry of Justice is implementing a number of upgrade projects to build and enhance the capacities of ministry employees, judges and their support staff. This training is yet a step further to achieving those goals that are based on our national judicial upgrading strategy," said Justice Minister Sharif Zu'bi.
The cooperation between USAID-MASAQ, the Ministry of Justice and the Judicial Institute of Jordan (JIJ) has been ongoing for three years.
Since 2004, MASAQ has worked to revitalise the JIJ, updating and computerising its facilities, developing a challenging and pertinent curriculum for both sitting judges and judges in training and helping it attract top quality students to all its programmes.
"USAID, in cooperation with the Judicial Institute of Jordan, has already provided numerous world-class training opportunities for judgesover the course ofthree years in an effort to strengthen judicial education in Jordan.Through this new training programme, USAID aims for a partnership between the Judicial Institute of Jordan and an equivalent institute in the United States in order to keep this training effort sustained in the coming future," the statement quoted USAID Rule of Law Programme Officer George Karaa as saying.
© Jordan Times 2007
