Birzeit University, UNICEF to expand primary-level learning objects

Birzeit University signed an agreement with UNICEF to develop and implement the second phase of the Life Skills and Citizenship Education Initiative for primary-level students (1st-4th grades). The primary mechanism for the agreement, which was signed on March 22, 2018, is integrating and executing learning objects – specially designed lessons that incorporate life skills and active citizenship into school curricula.

The Center for Continuing Education held the first workshop of the initiative on February 7, 2018. The workshop, attended by Ministry of Higher Education Director General of the National Institute for Educational Training Dr. Shahnaz El-Far; Director of the Unit for Learning Innovation at the Center for Continuing Education Dr. Osama Mimi; and a team of pedagogical specialists and initiative supervisors.

El-Far highlighted the joint efforts of the university and the Ministry of Higher Education that turned the idea into a national project, saying, “We at the Ministry of Higher Education are offering all our resources, skills, and cadres in support of this project, which will help to close the gap between education and higher education and present a pedagogical model for the region to follow.”

Mimi reviewed the role of the experiential learning objects in improving the quality of primary education. “Experiential learning objects are the result of 14 years of planning and research and will constitute the core of the development of a national portal of learning objects for all stages of the education process. This project will not only benefit us here in Palestine but it can also be exported and applied regionally.”