JMI – Amman
The Jordan Media Institute (JMI), in partnership with Deutsche Welle Akademie (DW Akademie), concluded on Saturday, 15 February 2020, a five-day workshop at JMI on advanced Media and Information Literacy (MIL) skills.
The 14 participants included experienced journalists from local media organizations who will receive advanced Training of Trainers (ToT) at JMI in March before they start training teachers across the Kingdom.
The workshop constituted the first step in the implementation of a three-year project to train dozens of trainers and thousands of teachers as part of a strategic partnership between the Ministry of Education and JMI – the implementing organization of the National Initiative on MIL that was adopted by the government in 2019. The national initiative proposes integrating MIL into schools, universities, youth centers, and civil society organizations.
Mona Naggar, the project director at DW Akademie, said the intensive five-day training represents the launch of a multi-year partnership with JMI, which she added, is a pioneering organization in MIL in the region. “We are proud of the partnership with JMI, especially since we share the vision and mission, especially with regards to building capacities of journalists and communities in the media domain,” she said, noting that both organizations are keen to transfer knowledge and support efforts to promote MIL skills and develop MIL curricula for all grade levels.
JMI Dean, Dr. Ziad Rifai, stressed the importance of ensuring the national MIL initiative is sustainable and the skills and competencies are accessible to all sectors of society, adding that JMI and its partners’ efforts are geared towards that objective.
Ministry of Education Spokesperson, Walid Jallad, who participated in the sessions, said the ministry was committed to this national initiative and is a strong believer in its significance for Jordan. He also acknowledged the crucial role JMI has played over the years in implementing MIL and drafting the initiative, as well as integrating MIL into the school curricula, which contributed to empowering students and arming them with modern tools of learning.
Jallad also pointed out that the ministry was working diligently to further expand in training teachers and integrating MIL concepts into activities’ classes and other efforts that were made in partnership with JMI and with the support from UNESCO and the EU.
He announced that at the start of the second school semester this month, students began receiving lessons in MIL concepts that were introduced into the National and Civic Education books for grades seven and eight and in the IT book for grade ten with the support of JMI.