Queen Rania Honors Winners of World Links Arab Region (WLAR) Creativity Competition

(Jordan Times - Amman) Students from several public schools who participated in the second Creativity Festival Competition, organised by World Links Arab Region (WLAR), in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and USAID, were honoured on Monday.

As part of her efforts to encourage schools to use technology in the learning process, Her Majesty Queen Rania joined the students in the celebration at Al Qusour Secondary School for Girls and attended an interactive class activity.

During the ceremony, the Queen presented awards to the winners, who worked on several projects, presented news bulletins and created innovative websites.

At the school, the first to apply World Links educational techniques, the Queen discussed with students and the class teacher the benefits of the World Links programme, which uses technology to facilitate learning.

In her capacity as member of the WLAR advisory council, the Queen indicated that the use of technology in the teaching-learning process enriches and enhances classroom discussions.

It also helps students to share their knowledge and experiences with their peers in Jordan and abroad via Internet, to serve educational purposes, the Queen added.

Student projects dealt with several subjects including the development of administrative information systems, natural resources and the environment.

In his address at the ceremony, Education Minister Tayseer Nueimi said the programme has helped upgrade the skills of more than 500 teachers since its launch in 2003.

Mohammad Ibrahim from El Hassan Ben Al Haitham Basic School, Rizq Afeifi from Thneibeh Secondary School for Boys, Souq Khazaaleh from Al Riyadi centre and Hanaa Hadi Sharouri from Yemen were among the winners who took part in an online project on the ozone layer.

Since its inception, WLAR has provided training for 8,000 teachers in more than 1,200 schools in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories and Yemen, reaching around one million Arab students.

Training courses centre on employing technology in the teaching process in a bid to improve education, economic opportunities and mutual global understanding for youth through the use of technology and the Internet.

So far, the network has created a virtual online learning community for teachers and students communicating across borders, countries and cultures.