JERUSALEM., August 10, 2017 (WAFA) - USAID and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, in partnership with AMIDEAST, capped off on Wednesday a successful pilot program to connect Palestinian students with computer programming skills to thrive in a 21st century economy, according to a press release.
More than 480 Palestinian ninth grade students in 33 Hebron and Ramallah-area schools benefitted from the classes facilitated by Palestine Polytechnic University.
In her remarks, USAID Mission Director Monica Stein-Olson thanked Minister of Education Sabri Saidam for his participation and announced that the program will expand in the coming academic year into all 455 schools supported by USAID and AMIDEAST.
“We hope this will serve as the impetus to integrate technology learning into the classroom and curriculum,” she said.
Five distinguished students, Asia Shalaldeh, Ahmad Rayyan, Ruba Gheit, Asala Abdul-Nabi, and Mohammad Masalmeh, received laptops from USAID and AMIDEAST.
The pilot coding program is part of the Leadership and Teacher Development Program funded by USAID and implemented by AMIDEAST in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, the National Institute for Educational Training, and the Department of Supervision and Qualification. Speaking about the program, AMIDEAST Chief of Party Said Assaf said, “Coding is a way to improve children’s problem solving skills. It teaches them logic that could be applied to other aspects of the curriculum.”
Launched in May 2012, the Leadership and Teacher Development Program is a comprehensive education reform initiative focused on improving the quality of education. The USAID-funded initiative supports the ministry‘s goals of providing opportunities for school leaders to improve classroom instruction; establishing a national cadre of teacher and education leaders who meet ministry standards for instruction and supervision; enhancing the quality of education through improved policies, systems and structures related to leadership and teacher development; and improving pre-service teacher education in Gaza.
M.K.
