USAID-funded education project prepares teachers for the newly-introduced MIS stream in high schools.

"I'm so excited to be starting this course" said Amal Salem "it is a real chance for me and my class to get ahead and it will help me in my future career". Amal was one of almost 15,000 students who began the Management of Information Stream course in the 2004/5 school year.

It appears that she was not the only keen student to begin the course. One year later the MIS students throughout Jordan managed a pass rate of 84.3% in the Tawjihi exams making their results comparable with those of the Science stream students.

The happiness of the students at the results was shared by their 510 full time teachers and 200 part time teachers who had been involved in teaching the students.

The establishment of the course was part of a new initiative in Education in Jordan, the Education Reform for the Knowledge Economy (ERfKE) which promises to change the face of education in the country and also in the wider Middle East forever. The Management Information Stream education program is one facet of this project.

Only four months before the start of this school year teachers did not feel they were ready for the subjects they were supposed to teach. The Secretary General for the Ministry of Education approached the ESP project to conduct emergency MIS teacher training which would help the teachers to prepare for the coming years educational program leading up to the students Tawjihi exams. These are vital exams which go a long way to deciding the students career path.

The Ministry of Education and the ESP project acted quickly to implement the planned education for the teachers. Others were also drafted in to help including MIS graduate students from Yarmouk, UJ and Mouta Universities who supported teachers through this learning process. Further support was given through Teaching Supervisors who monitored the quality of the teaching and supported teachers through the teaching process. Eleven training centers spread throughout the kingdom were used for the teacher training. Teachers also formed support networks which helped them through the difficult areas of the new curriculum. Through the networking of teachers and teacher trainers we saw the growth of a strong community of educators who supported each other through the training year with their different students, sharing their knowledge and experience and also their lesson plans in order to help each other in this task.

This is a story with a large number of unsung hero's. The students worked hard to pass their exams but behind each successful student were a number of teachers, teacher trainers, supervisors and graduate students who worked to give each student the best chance of success.

As one happy student said having passed their Tawjihi:

"I owe my teacher so much. She really made the subject matter come alive. I am so happy I passed as it will have such a positive impact when it comes to my finding a good job."