Education Ministry, CPF partner to introduce technology in primary education

AMMAN — The Education Ministry, with the support of the Crown Prince Foundation (CPF) on Sunday launched a project to include the “HelloWorldKids” programme to teach computer programming for students between the fourth and sixth grades.

The first phase of the project, implemented in partnership with the Queen Rania Teacher Academy (QRTA) for the 2017/2018 academic year, aims at applying the HelloWorldKids curriculum with the participation of 170 math and science teachers and 30,000 students in 76 public schools in Amman, Zarqa, Irbid, Ramtha and Karak.

During the launching ceremony, Education Minister Omar Razzaz said that the project is a “pioneering step” for Jordan and the region, and comes at a time when developed countries have started adopting and supporting computer programming education for children, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The curriculum is important for the students as it helps them create and develop smart services and products, Razzaz said, highlighting the significance of the project in training children to acquire logical, creative and analytical thinking skills, necessary to reach applied solutions for their daily life.

Through this project, the ministry is seeking to integrate students into the programming field from an early age, especially in the mathematics and science courses, in order to open new scopes for critical thinking, the minister noted.

Meanwhile, Nujood Sarhan, director of programmes and performance excellence at CPF, said that the foundation considers this partnership as an “important national achievement” that aims at enhancing students’ skills and capabilities and providing them with new skills of advanced levels.

Haif Banayan, CEO of QRTA, said that the skills of teaching programming accord with those that the academy seeks to transfer to students in the field of technology, stressing that developing the teachers’ capabilities to insert such skills while measuring their impact on the students is of great importance. 

HelloWorldKids CEO, Hanan Khader, referred to the importance of the project in making the Kingdom a regional hub for business entrepreneurship and ICT, especially as it targets students at the elementary stage, teaching them ways to produce technology rather than only consuming it.