Multimedia project benefitting 15,000 Jordanian children concludes

AMMAN A total of 400 teachers and 50 principals were honoured for their contribution to a UNICEF-supported project on Tuesday.

A ceremony was held under the patronage of Minister of Education and Minister of Higher Education Walid Maani to recognise the educators for their role in the Lets Live in Harmony multimedia project implemented in 100 public schools across the Kingdom during the 2018/2019 academic year, according to a UNICEF statement.

The project, implemented by Integrated International, benefited 15,000 children aged 5-10 and aimed at instilling social values and improving social cohesion through multimedia learning, the statement said.

"The technological revolution we are currently living in has made us believe that technology plays a role in improving the quality of education, and what is special about this rich programme is that it is designed to be used to give teachers the opportunity to integrate students of different abilities and needs in the same classroom through interactive activities, Maani said during the ceremony.

An initial assessment of the project showed an increase in literacy performance, awareness of social cohesion vocabulary and an increase in social and collaborative behaviour among Syrian and Jordanian children attending double-shifted schools, according to the statement.

We are delighted to honour the hardworking teachers, principals and all those who came together to make this project a reality, UNICEF Jordan Representative Tanya Chapuisat said in the statement. The project has already demonstrated improved reading skills in children and is playing a key role in strengthening social cohesion in the classroom, something that will have a positive impact for the whole of society.

As part of the project, a digital library of locally-sourced, grade-appropriate stories were also created to teach concepts of self, family, community and others, as well as positive behaviours such as respect, belonging, sharing and tolerance.

The Lets Live in Harmony ed-tech platform enables early grade learners to strengthen literacy... while a programme of teacher-led activities reinforce these concepts and enable learners to put these principles into practice, explained Integrated International CEO Nedjma Koval-Saifi.

The platform uses Android open-source technology accessed through tablets provided to schools and assets are also available offline, making them available to all.

UNICEF, Integrated and Little Thinking Minds provided the required equipment and tools to implement the project and through the support of the Queen Rania Centre for Education and Information Technology, 400 teachers were trained to lead the interactive sessions in the classroom on a weekly basis.

UNICEF is working with the Ministry of Education to explore ways to expand the programme to reach more schools and more children in the next school year, the statement read.