News

AMMAN --- November 25, 2014 ---- Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization (TAG-Org) in collaboration with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, held a regional workshop at Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Knowledge Forum. . The workshop discussed the report on the Integration of ICT in Education and E-Readiness of schools in five Arab countries; Jordan, Egypt, Oman, Palestine, and Qatar.

In his opening speech, HE Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh, Chairman of TAG-Org, affirmed that there is a close interdependence between education and IT in the sense that education is needed in order to use IT and IT is needed in order to run the educational process. 

He added that in the light of digital education revolution, this interdependence is becoming more and more significant, and global competition in any field cannot be sustained without the use of ICT, therefore, the integration of IT in education is inevitable for the future.

Dr. Abu-Ghazaleh called for speeding up the digital transformation of education in the Arab countries and developing digital educational programs that comply with clear accreditation standards in parallel with the traditional programs in order to keep pace with the global trend towards digital education.

Abu-Ghazaleh stated that during his presidency of the United Nations Global Alliance for ICT, he put special emphasis on the close relationship between education and information technology.

He added that the partnership between TAG-Org, the UNESCO, and the League of Arab States in many mutual programs plays a significant role in the process of education in the region.

For her part, Ms. Costanza Farina, UNESCO representative in Jordan commended Jordan for the initiatives that ensure that the Jordanian education system takes fukk advantage of the immense potential of ICTs for developing a critical mass of human capital that would boost the country’s aspiration to a knowledge economy.

She also commended the partnership between UNESCO and TAG-Org in the field of ICT in education, which resulted in the issuance of the first report on integration of ICT in education systems in the five Arab countries.

“It is globally recognized that there has been a shift occurring whereby traditional economies are striving to become ‘knowledge economies’. This trend is characterized by the changing demand from manual skills and routine cognitive tasks to growth in new knowledge innovation,” Farina added.

“Tertiary (higher) education and society as a whole increasingly require highly-skilled students and workers with problem solving abilities as well as communication and teamwork skills. ICT is believed to play a significant role in this transformation.”

Ms. Farina explained that statistics on the integration of ICT in education are important for two reasons.

“Firstly, within a context of increasing use of ICT