“Let’s Live in Harmony” multimedia project concludes with award ceremony for educators

AMMAN, 9 July 2019: 400 teachers, 50 principals and other key personnel were honoured today in an award ceremony, under the patronage of his Excellency the Minister of Education and Higher Education Prof./Dr. Walid Maani, for their role in the ‘Let’s Live in Harmony’ multimedia project, which was implemented in 100 public schools and benefited 15,000 school children during the 2018/19 academic year.

The ‘Let’s Live in Harmony’ multimedia project supported by UNICEF, as part of its work with the Ministry of Education to provide quality, inclusive education for all children in Jordan, and implemented by Integrated International was developed to provide an innovative approach to the educational needs children aged 5-10, with a focus on instilling social values and improving social cohesion through multimedia learning.

An initial assessment has demonstrated that the ‘Let’s Live in Harmony’ multimedia project resulted in an increase in literacy performance, awareness of social cohesion vocabulary, and an increase in social and collaborative behaviour among Syrians and Jordanians children attending double-shifted schools.

On behalf of the Minister of Education Dr. Walid Al-Maani, the Secretary-General of the Ministry, Mr. Sami Al-Salaita said: "The technological revolution we are currently living in has made us believe that technology plays a role in improving the quality of education, and what is special about this rich program is that it is designed to be used to give teachers the opportunity to integrate students of different abilities and needs in the same classroom through interactive activities. This program has succeeded in developing educational multimedia which focus on social learning to increase the confidence of students to become more engaged in their society. " he added.

“We are delighted to honour the hardworking teachers, principals and all those who came together to make this project a reality,” said Tanya Chapuisat, Representative, UNICEF Jordan. “The project has already demonstrated improved reading skills in children and is playing a key role in strengthening social cohesion in the classroom, something that will have a positive impact for the whole of society.”

As part of the project, a digital library of locally-sourced, grade-appropriate stories were created that teach concepts of self, family, community and others, as well as positive behaviors such as respect, belonging, sharing, and tolerance.

“The Let’s Live in Harmony ed-tech platform enables early grade learners to strengthen literacy while building a vocabulary of self, other, acceptance respect and harmony through a library of stories, while a program of teacher-led activities reinforce these concepts and enable learners to put these principles into practice,” said Nedjma Koval-Saifi, CEO of Integrated International.

The platform uses Android open-source technology accessed through tablets provided to schools and assets are also available offline, making them available to all.

UNICEF, Integrated and Little Thinking Minds provided the required equipment and tools to implement the project and, through the support of the Queen Rania Center for Education and Information Technology, 400 teachers were trained to lead on the interactive sessions on the classroom on a weekly basis.

UNICEF is working with the Ministry of Education to explore ways to expand the programme to reach more schools and more children in the next school year.