News

AMMAN--------November 5, 2013--------Under the Patronage of HRH Princess Basma bint Talal, the 22nd Private Schools Cultural and Educational Forum was held at the Islamic Educational College under the theme “Leading Change in the School: Why and How?”

The Forum aims at contributing to the educational process in Jordan, forging closer ties between the private schools on one hand and local, Arab and international communities on the other, in addition to raising the level of professional performance of teachers and technical and administrative staff.

In her speech, HRH Princess Basma stated that since its inception, Jordan believed and continues to believe in members of the community’s right to education; it has been successful in building educational institutions that have prepared graduates for real jobs and helped them acquire capabilities and competence; thus, they have contributed to founding the pillars of the state, and their expertise has benefited our Arab neighbours as well.

The Princess said "Development requires believing in the power of knowledge to solve our problems and opting for dialogue as a means to overcome our differences. As we start to encounter the challenges of the education system, countries of the world enter a tough race to develop their own potential and available resources to have their share of opportunities offered by the new global economic growth," she added.

HRH indicated that schools are not ivory towers or institutions that were disconnected from each other, but rather lighthouses that carry signs of change for a society and promise of a better future, stressing that decades ago, the Jordanian school was a pioneer of change in its local and surrounding communities, and is still able to be so today.

HRH touched upon the crisis and challenges that we are facing, that lie in our weak ability to employ technology to serve the goals of learning and in the transformation of our schools into yards governed by sectarian groups, emergence of forms of school bullying, the schools’ loss of their qualities of attraction and confidence and the emergence of new forms of violence.

Meanwhile, HE Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh stressed that the Internet achieved the universal democracy that many countries of the world have failed to deliver. He said that we needed a knowledge revival, pointing out that those who will rule the world of today and tomorrow are knowledge workers.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh criticized the lack of official recognition of digital education and dependence on traditional teaching to date, calling for a knowledge revolution and genuine change in the education system, and warning that if this does not happen we will be out of date.

Therefore, says Abu-Ghazaleh, "We have established a global university through which we achieve the democracy of accredited and internationally recognized learning. The Talal Abu-Ghazaleh University (TAGI-UNI) provides all people with the opportunity of obtaining a degree from one of the world universities while staying in their country.

Abu-Ghazaleh also criticized the emergence of a new sort of language circulating among the young called Arabeezi [Arabenglish), calling for facing up to this phenomenon before it becomes widespread, weakens our language and impacts on education and society. He announced the launch of the Arabic Electronic Encyclopaedia (TAGEPEDIA) which has exceeded the global Wikipedia in terms of the volume and accuracy of its information. TAGEPEDIA is one of the initiatives and achievements of Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization. We are hoping that through this initiative that Arabic language can achieve the fifth rank in the world on the Internet instead of the current 28th position.

Dr. Abu-Ghaz