The World Bank recently approved funding for the Education, Skills, and Administrative Reforms (MASAR) project in Jordan, following its presentation to the bank’s board of directors yesterday.
The total cost of the project is approximately $400 million, funded through a $393 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and $7 million from the Concessional Financing Facility.
The project, which has been under review for the past few months, aims to improve access to basic education, technical and vocational training relevant to the job market, and enhance the efficiency of education sector management. It will be implemented over five years (2024-2029), supporting government reform plans in the education sector outlined in the Economic Modernization Vision and the Public Sector Modernization Plan.
The World Bank highlighted that the Economic Modernization Vision and its executive program, along with the Public Sector Modernization Plan, identified several challenges and priorities in the education sector. These include increasing access to and quality of educational services, supporting students at critical transition points, and promoting equality in early childhood education and vocational training.
The project will address several key areas, such as improving learning outcomes, as 58% of children aged 10 struggle with learning poverty (either not acquiring basic skills or being out of school), enhancing internal efficiency to reduce dropout rates and improve secondary school completion, and increasing external efficiency to boost labor market outcomes, especially for youth and women.
To tackle these challenges, the plans include a transformative and ambitious education sector strategy under the “Smart Jordan” growth pillar, aiming to develop local talent to meet future skill needs.
The project focuses on seven areas identified in the modernization vision: early childhood care for children under nine, basic education (primary and secondary), higher education, technical and vocational education and training, research and innovation, entrepreneurship, and data. It encompasses digitization, governance, and the legal environment as comprehensive areas supporting the reforms.
The World Bank emphasized that the project will stimulate results to enhance the efficiency of implementing the specific reforms under the “Smart Jordan” growth pillar. It will particularly focus on overcoming obstacles at two critical transition points: from home to school and from school to work, supporting the key success factors at each stage of the educational cycle.
Transitioning from home to school will involve building readiness to learn, a key driver of foundational literacy and subsequent learning outcomes throughout basic education.
The project will eventually reflect the transition from school to work, showcasing the success in acquiring relevant skills and competencies, the education system’s responsiveness to labor market demand, and the efficiency of certification procedures and career guidance services.
The project will also support governance reforms and institutional restructuring of the Ministry of Education, aligning with the World Bank’s Country Partnership Framework for Jordan (2024-2029). This framework proposes supporting the effective implementation of the Economic Modernization Vision strategy and the Public Sector Modernization Roadmap to improve human capital outcomes in education.
Previous World Bank data published earlier this year indicated that Jordan has achieved numerous successes in the education sector over the past decade, implementing critical system-level reforms. Key achievements include increased school enrollment rates, particularly in primary and secondary education, responding to growing demand and demographic changes, and closing gender gaps in access to education.
