Canada extends grant to support Kingdom’s education sector

AMMAN — Canada on Thursday extended C$10 million (around JD5.4 million) to support the Kingdom’s educational sector.

Planning and International Cooperation Minister Imad Fakhoury and Canadian Ambassador to Jordan Peter MacDougall signed the grant agreement, in the presence of Education Minister Omar Razzaz and Canadian Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau, according to a ministry statement.

“The amount of the grant is aimed at assisting the Ministry of Education to implement its Accelerating Access to Quality Formal Education Plan announced at the London Conference as part of the Jordan Compact,” Fakhoury said.

He added that the implementation of this plan helps address the critical needs in the education sector, attract Syrian boys and girls to formal education and deal with real concerns about the possible loss of a generation of children to the effects of violence, extremism and displacement.

The minister said this agreement is part of a $25-million grant presented by the governments of the US, the UK and Norway to support the Education Ministry’s plan to provide schooling for Syrian children.

He commended the Canadian support for Jordan to help deal with the repercussions of the Syrian refugee influx.

“The new grant... adds to your previous and ongoing support to the education sector, making Canada one of the lead donors in this critical sector with total support of about C$100 million,” the minister said, addressing the attending Canadian officials.

In this regard, Fakhoury voiced Amman’s keenness for more cooperation with Ottawa that achieves the goals of the national development plan and helps implement the Jordan Response Plan.

Razzaz stressed the importance of not leaving Jordan alone in presenting humanitarian services to refugees on behalf of the international community, praising the Canadian support towards achieving this goal.

Meanwhile, Bibeau said that in the London conference last February, her country pledged C$1.1 billion over three years to countries hosting Syrian refugees, praising the political and economic reforms that Jordan is implementing. 

During His Majesty King Abdullah’s visit to Canada in April 2015, both countries signed a memorandum of understanding to activate development cooperation.