World Bank Report: Jordan’s education reform program exceeds targets for kindergarten enrollment and teacher training.
World Bank upgrades Jordan's education reform program rating to "Satisfactory" ahead of its imminent closing.
اضافة اعلان
135,000 children in KG2 and 547,000 students benefit from the interventions of Jordan’s education reform program.
World Bank: Jordan’s education reform program achieves significant progress in early education and school assessments.
International Report: 522 new kindergarten classrooms established under Jordan’s education reform program.
Jordan’s "Education Reform Support Program" has made substantial progress in expanding access to early childhood education, improving student assessments, and enhancing teaching and learning environments for both Jordanian and Syrian refugee children. This comes ahead of its final closing at the end of May, according to a World Bank report monitored by Al-Mamlaka.
The World Bank upgraded the program’s rating for progress toward achieving its objectives from "Moderately Satisfactory" to "Satisfactory." It also upgraded the overall implementation progress rating to "Satisfactory"—the highest evaluation tier. The report noted that the program has entered its final phase, successfully validating 9 Disbursement-Linked Results (DLRs).
Verified milestones included enrolling refugee children in target schools, adopting a plan to expand kindergarten services, and issuing technical guidelines to design a public-private partnership (PPP) model for KG2 expansion. Additional results featured establishing and operating new classrooms, training kindergarten teachers on the interactive curriculum, assessing new teachers against National Professional Standards, and certifying teachers from KG through Grade 12 based on those standards.
The validated results also encompassed equipping schools with upgraded water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) facilities and rehabilitating buildings to meet health and safety requirements. The report highlighted that all project outcome indicators were met or exceeded, except for the indicator tracking Syrian refugee beneficiaries, which was partially achieved due to definition variations and a decline in refugee numbers toward the project's closing.
Financial Breakdown
Total funding allocated for the program stood at approximately $300 million, distributed across loans and grants provided via the World Bank and various financing funds. Cumulative disbursements reached $292.04 million, with $7.91 million anticipated to be disbursed before the final closure, representing an overall disbursement rate of 97.35%.
Certain funding components achieved a 100% disbursement rate, including a $141.79 million loan and a $50.21 million grant. Disbursements from an additional financing allocation of $5.91 million reached $5.77 million (97.63%), while disbursements from an additional loan of $81.40 million reached $75.17 million (92.35%).
The report specified that the program became effective on December 14, 2017, and is slated for final closure on May 31, 2026.
Early Childhood Education Milestones
The number of Jordanian and Syrian refugee children enrolled in KG2 rose from 80,000 in December 2017 to 135,508 as of April 27, 2026, surpassing the original target of 120,000 children.
The number of Syrian refugee children benefiting from the program's interventions reached 163,477 by April 27, 2026, compared to a baseline of 125,000 and a final target of 180,000.
Furthermore, 11,901 teachers were evaluated against the new National Professional Standards and met minimum performance criteria by April 27, 2026, significantly exceeding the target of 6,400 teachers.
The report also noted the adoption of a regulatory framework separating the function of the "Tawjihi" (High School) exam as a graduation certificate from its role in determining higher education admissions.
In terms of early childhood infrastructure, 522 additional KG2 classrooms were established and operationalized by April 27, 2026, compared to a target of 400. Other accomplishments included developing and broadcasting educational television content for kindergartens, piloting a national quality assurance system, developing a certification program for KG teachers, and finalizing a design report for a private sector partnership model to expand KG2 services.
Additionally, 2,599 public and private KG2 classrooms met minimum quality standards by March 4, 2026, vastly outperforming the original target of 200 classrooms.
Enhancing the Learning Environment
The number of students benefiting from direct interventions to improve learning reached 547,251 as of April 27, 2026, compared to a target of 404,575. This beneficiary pool included 257,755 female students.
Moreover, 37,434 teachers met the minimum standards for social and emotional skill development by April 27, 2026, outstripping the target of 20,000 teachers.
The report also highlighted the design and implementation of a school-based social and emotional learning program, alongside the upgrading of health, sanitation, and safety facilities across 330 schools, compared to an initial goal of 275.
Student Assessment and System Reform
The report confirmed the implementation of a diagnostic assessment in reading and mathematics for third-grade students, the preparation of a reform plan for secondary education tracks, and the design of a national student assessment framework. Additionally, teacher satisfaction regarding the quality of participation in kindergarten training reached 93%, compared to a target of 65%.
The report also pointed out the operationalization of the Geographic Information System (GIS) and the "Open EMIS" platform to generate accurate and timely educational data. Furthermore, a study was developed to identify gaps in adopting blended learning, alongside a curriculum alignment exercise to develop blended learning content.
Finally, the report indicated that 91% of grievances submitted through the grievance redress mechanism (GRM) were resolved within 21 days as of April 27, 2026, while misclassified or rejected complaints accounted for less than 2% of the total volume.
Source: Al-Mamlaka
