The Secretary of the Jordanian National Committee for Education, Culture and Science, Dr. Ibtisam Ayoub, praised the decision of ALECSO to choose the city of Irbid as the capital of Arab culture for 2022.
The decision came in conjunction with the nomination of the late Jordanian poet Mustafa Wahbi Al-Tal (Arar) as an Arab symbol of culture For the year 2022, as this accreditation bears the importance of the poet in the conscience of the Jordanian and Arab people, and it is the title granted by the organization for the first time to the candidate of the country hosting the capital of Arab culture, especially since the city of Irbid is the birthplace of the late poet.
Jordan is participating in the 26th regular session of the General Conference of the Arab Organization for Education, Culture and Science (ALECO), which opened today, Saturday, in the capital, Tunis, in the presence of representatives of Arab member states, including ministers of education, culture and science, and heads of national committees for education, culture and science.
In Jordan’s speech at the conference, Ayoub said that talking about education, its reality, challenges and future aspirations for its development in the Kingdom is clearly evident in the great interest that the Hashemite leadership attaches to education, and its keenness to develop and improve it.
She added that out of keenness to implement the royal directives on education, work is currently underway to implement a plan to develop education in Jordan. It includes all its stages, starting from pre-school education to university education. The plan is based on the axes and contents of the National Human Resources Development Plan 2016-2025. Education is also being sought that achieves justice in providing educational service to all students, and upgrading vocational education to keep pace with global development and meet the needs of Labor market.
As for Jordan’s experience in dealing with the Corona pandemic, Ayoub confirmed that the Ministry of Education took the initiative to take the royal directives, to respond quickly to this pandemic, deal wisely and plan tightly, and make exceptional efforts to avoid its damage to the education sector, in addition to working to achieve The principle that education is a national priority that is no less important than the priority of public health and safety.
She referred to the effective role of ALECSO in contributing to the achievement of development goals, as it worked on the project “The Arab Plan for Education in Emergencies and Crises”, which will have an impact on defining the framework for action in the Arab region and contribute to not interrupting the educational process and reducing the percentage of wastage Education in the event of any emergency.
Ayoub called for working together to empower Arab youth, develop their capabilities and skills that meet the labor market, and engage them as active members of their societies.
In his opening speech, ALECSO Director-General Mohamed Ould Amar referred to the efforts made by the organization, despite the negative repercussions of the Corona pandemic, to implement the projects and activities programmed in its budget.
With regard to the financial situation of the organization, he said that a prudent fiscal policy was adopted to control and rationalize spending and to motivate countries to pay their contributions, which enabled the building of a general reserve with the Arab Monetary Fund, which currently stands at $7.5 million.
The Assistant Secretary-General and President of the Tunis Center of the League of Arab States, Mohamed Saleh bin Issa, reviewed the efforts made by the General Secretariat in the field of culture and dialogue of civilizations, including the launch of the “Arabic Language Month” initiative in cooperation with the International Council for the Arabic Language, whose activities will begin in 2023, and is also working in the context of supporting the field of Scientific and technological research and innovation to set the general framework for the Arab strategy for scientific research in the social, economic and cultural fields.
Source: Jordan News Agency – Petra