Pilot project launched to enhance academic performance of children

AMMAN — Pearson and Save the Children on Tuesday announced the launch of a new pilot education project in Jordan to help Syrian refugees and children living in host communities to improve their academic results and build resilience, while helping to make their schools safer, a joint statement said.

Run in partnership with the Ministry of Education, the project will consist of the “fun and engaging” maths learning app, “Space Hero”(Batl Al Fada’a), developed by Pearson, in collaboration with refugees and Jordanian children using learner-centred design approaches. 

The app will support a broader Save the Children led in-school programme focusing on teacher professional development, enhancing school-community relations, after-school learning and psychosocial support, according to the statement.

The project will be launched in three boys’ schools for the 2017-2018 academic year. For the 2018-2019 academic year, the project will be scaled up to an additional five schools, including four school for girls.

The app will also be available for free download so children can access learning anywhere at any time, the statement said.

“The crisis in Syria has had a devastating impact on children’s lives, depriving millions of young people of an education for many years now. The world cannot stand by and allow this to become a lost generation of Syrian children, set back decades by a brutal war,” said Kevin Watkins, chief executive of Save the Children. 

“If we want to make the biggest difference for children, we must harness the expertise of partners to ensure the world’s most vulnerable are given the chance to learn in safe and secure environments. This programme will improve the delivery of education in Jordan and give both Syrian refugee and Jordanian children the chance to fulfil their potential,” he added.

“Since 2015, we are proud to have been working with Save the Children on our ‘Every Child Learning’ partnership, to improve access to quality education for Syrian refugees and vulnerable children in Jordan. I am delighted that we are now announcing the next important step for this work. Our innovative education project, in partnership with the Jordanian Ministry of Education, will help Jordanian and Syrian children to accelerate their learning and improve their wellbeing,” said Kate James, chief corporate affairs and global marketing officer of Pearson. 

“At Save the Children Jordan we are committed to ensure that every last child affected by the Syrian crisis has access to quality education in an enabling and inclusive environment. In order to do, so we need to make sure that we offer different strategies and approaches to education rather than a ‘one-size fits all’ approach,” said Rania Malki, CEO of Save the Children in Jordan.

Mohammad Al Okour, the ministry’s secretary general, emphasised the importance of the Every Child Learning project in supporting the Education Ministry’s role in improving the educational process and its outcomes. 

“The project also supports the provision of utilities needed for a safer education for students,” Okour said, referring to the efforts exerted by the ministry into providing an educational environment in public schools.

“I’m delighted to welcome the Pearson team to Jordan as they celebrate the next phase of their partnership with Save the Children, which is helping more than 3000 Jordanian and Syrian children to improve their maths skills,” said British Ambassador to Jordan Edward Oakden, who expressed his admiration for the “Space Hero” app, in which “British innovation meets the imagination and energy of the Jordanian and Syrian children who helped with its design”.