Orange Jordan visits one of UNICEF’s MAKANI Centers to follow-up on the E-Learning Digital Program

​Following the launch of the Digital Schools Program, which aims to deliver free-of-charge digital educational content to several education centers in the Kingdom, Orange Jordan’s CEO Jérôme Hénique and UNICEF Country Representative Robert Jenkins visited Queen Zein Al Sharaf Institute for Development (ZENID), a MAKANI center.ZENID Makani center provides development oriented training, capacity building and research in Jordan and the Arab region, offering valuable practical and conceptual learning opportunities for youth, development practitioners, trainers, field workers and communities. “Zidni Elman” Orange E-learning digital program was launched in 2015 by Orange Global and Orange Jordan in partnership with UNICEF Jordan and e-Learnment and was implemented in five educational centers supported by UNICEF Jordan as part of its Makani (My Space) initiative. The next phase of the implementation will include expanding the program to reach all Makani centers across the Kingdom.  Commenting on the occasion, Orange Jordan CEO Jérôme Hénique said, “We are really happy with our visit and interaction with the beneficiaries of the program, as we had the opportunity to witness the success of our new version of “Zidni Elman” service that we launched in partnership with UNICEF. During the next phase, we will continue our efforts to bridge the digital divide by providing digital tools and solutions, which is in line with our five-year corporate strategy Essentials 2020.”According to Jenkins, UNICEF signed an agreement with Orange in November 2016 in an effort to improve the quality of the learning environment at the Makani Centers and to introduce IT Blended Approaches to Learning in formal and informal settings.For the 250 Makani centers, e-content based on Ministry of Education learning outcomes has been developed for the four main subjects taught in Makani (Arabic, English, Science and Math) from grades 1-6. Furthermore, UNICEF has developed pre and post-tests to assess the impact of IT blended in improving the learning outcomes of children exposed to the technology. So far, the pre- test has been administered with around 500 children from 28 Makani centers.   Orange Jordan has implemented several e-learning initiatives in the Kingdom, most notably its "Zidni Elman"service, which utilizes smart devices like tablets and desktop computers to deliver interactive after-school curricula for students; and "Menhaji, Interactive Book" a program in partnership with the Jordanian Ministry of Education to digitize school curricula.