Supporting the Learning of Young Children in Jordan during COVID-19 Pandemic

Plan International, in partnership with Lamsa World and Ustad Mobile, collaborated on a project called Rawdati in Jordan, from 2018-2020. The project aimed to adequately prepare girls and boys aged 5-6 from Syrian refugee and Jordanian host communities in the governorates of Amman, Zarqa and Irbid for a successful transition to grade 1 in primary schools. This was to be achieved by supporting girls and boys to access quality kindergarten (KG) and school readiness programs (SRP). The project also included an educational technology (edtech) component focused on developing and providing digital teaching and interactive learning materials aligned with kindergarten curriculum. 

Following the outbreak of COVID-19 in Jordan in mid-March 2020, the government announced a series of measures to curb the spread of the virus in the country, including nationwide school closures. The closures affected an estimated 2.3 million learners from KG to tertiary education level. To stem learning loss, the Ministry of Education (MoE) launched Darsak, a free distance learning digital platform which provides students from grades 1-12 with instructional lessons through video clips and is organized and scheduled according to the Jordanian curriculum. In addition, three national television channels broadcasted these videos to reach more children. Unfortunately, these distance learning platforms did not include kindergarten learners.