TREE programme launched to support Jordan’s educational process

AMMAN — The Transforming Refugee Education towards Excellence (TREE) programme, aimed at tackling the challenges encountered in primary and secondary education in Jordan, has been launched by Save the Children Jordan and the MIT Abdul Latif Jameel World Education Lab (J-WEL). 

The programme is being run in collaboration with the Jordanian Ministry of Education, Community Jameel and the UAE-based Dubai Cares, a global philanthropic organisation, according to a statement from Save the Children Jordan.

TREE is one of Save the Children’s many educational programmes and uses innovative methodologies and tools designed to benefit teachers on a personal and professional level, the statement said. After completing the training, teachers can apply these tools in the classroom to help students improve academically.

This pilot programme is intended to benefit 745,000 students in public schools across the Kingdom, according to the statement. Teachers will contribute to the formation of a “unique” model that partners will be able to up-scale to reach other regions.

“This cooperation aims to protect children and their education by building the capacity of teachers and improving the educational process in public schools and by focusing on the social and emotional aspects of teachers to transform the school environment into a friendly learning environment," Executive Director of Save the Children Jordan Diala Al Khamra was quoted in the statement as saying.

M.S. Vijay Kumar, Executive Director of J-WEL, said in the statement: "We hope that this collaborative initiative will equip educators with tools and techniques to strengthen their well-being and capabilities, leading to positive learning opportunities for children. We look forward to this work being a model for the region and elsewhere."

The TREE programme is part of Save the Children Jordan’s wider mission to ensure all children have access that to that quality education; other initiatives include the “Every Child Learning” programme in partnership with Pearson, which provides access to digital learning and remedial classes as well as continuous training and support for teachers, the statement read. 

Another educational programme is the “Enabling Access to Educational Pathways and Safer Learning Environments” project, run in partnership with the European Commission with the aim of enabling vulnerable, hard-to-reach, out-of-school children across Jordan.

Save the Children Jordan is an independent national organisation operating in the Kingdom since 1974, focusing on the most vulnerable children and their families, according to the statement. Save the Children Jordan works through its crews and staff on the field and in crisis locations. In its various services, the association reached more than 455,000 Jordanian children and families in 2018.

Community Jameel works across major fields of development: Livelihoods, the arts, education, health, climate and evidence. Community Jameel is active worldwide in directly implementing programmes and in collaborating with major international institutions and grassroots organisations, according to the statement.