Queen Rania visits Shifa Bint Awf School for Girls

AMMAN — Her Majesty Queen Rania on Wednesday visited the Shifa Bint Awf School for Girls and checked on the progress of several educational projects carried out by the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI), as well as the Watan Music Chamber. 

Upon her arrival at the school, located in the east Amman suburb of Jabal Al Natheef, Queen Rania met with JEI CEO Nermine Nabulsi and Manal Qadoura, the school principal, according to a statement from her office.

Launched in 2003, JEI aims to support efforts to improve the level of education, encourage creativity, develop capabilities, and build a knowledge economy.

Her Majesty began her tour of the school at the Watan Music Chamber, where she met with its founder, Doha Abdelkhaleq, who briefed her on the initiative. 

The Watan Music Chamber gives talented students, mainly in public schools, the opportunity to explore their creative potential and get a head-start with music, the statement said. 

A successful collaboration between the private sector and the Greater Amman Municipality, the chamber’s vision is to combine the teaching of music with the official learning curricula at public schools. 

The chamber was established with the support of the Because I Care online portal, a not-for-profit initiative, according to the statement. 

Queen Rania later attended two performances by students: a rap song and a piano recital by a beneficiary of the Music Chamber in Ras Al Ain.

Established in 2013, the chamber is hosted and located at Al Hussein Cultural Centre in Ras Al Ain in the form of a teaching space that is accessible to students of schools that cannot afford to teach music, in cooperation with the Madrasati initiative and the National Music Conservatory.

During Wednesday’s visit, Nabulsi also briefed the Queen about JEI’s partnership with Madrasati Palestine, which aims to transfer its educational model to 20 schools in Jerusalem. 

JEI adapted the model to fit the environment of Jerusalem schools, recommended the best tested equipment to purchase, provided them with e-curricula as a donation from Rubicon, and trained teachers and principals on the Interactive White Board, Change Management and 21st Century Skills, the statement said. 

At her second stop, Queen Rania joined a class in a Jerusalem school via a live Skype connection. Science teachers from both schools explained to 10th graders the concept of acid rain and its effects on old buildings in the city. 

The Jerusalem school principal also told Her Majesty about the partnership, the benefits of this programme and what they were able to achieve.

Queen Rania praised the high morale of the teachers and the school’s principal’s self-motivation and efforts in making the school a centre of excellence in many different ways, despite the limited resources. 

Established in 1994, Al Shifa Bint Awf Secondary Schools for Girls currently has 800 students (grades 7-12), and 38 teachers and administrative staff.