The President of Yarmouk University, Professor Islam Massad, met with a delegation from the project "Promoting Quality in Inclusive Education in Jordan" (PROMISE) supported by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), which included the project manager Elke Krause-Hannak, the development advisor in the project, Kalpana Kumar, the teacher training advisor in the project, Dr. Awni Alomari, and Dr. Uday Smadi, advisor for culture and youth in the governorate of Irbid, to discuss the executive steps of the inclusive education project. Massad stressed that Yarmouk welcomes the partnership with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), especially within the projects that achieve sustainable development in the Jordanian society. He then added that Yarmouk’s Faculty of Educational Sciences has always proven its ability and efficiency in offering qualitative educational programs and implementing distinguished projects that contribute effectively to the development of the educational process, stressing that the "Inclusive Education Diploma" program offered by the Faculty represents one of the marks of excellence in the Faculty’s history.
Moreover, Massad expressed the readiness of Yarmouk, through its Faculty of Educational Sciences, to cooperate with the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), to implement a project to enhance the quality of inclusive education in Jordan, since this project has a positive impact on students with special needs by enabling them to integrate into the classroom with their peers. He also pointed out that the "Inclusive Education Diploma" is keen to make adjustments and adaptations by deploying processes and teaching strategies compatible with the needs of students with disabilities as well as the demands of the society. In addition, he mentioned that the Diploma Program is keen to harness the University's cadres of sign language teachers to cooperate with the "German Agency" under the project to provide training courses for parents of students with disabilities to enable them to communicate with their children and respond to their cases as soon as possible.
In response, Hannak praised the distinguished academic and research level of Yarmouk University, which enabled it to offer many distinguished academic programs at the diploma, undergraduate and postgraduate levels in various educational fields, stressing the Agency's keenness to strengthen its cooperation with Yarmouk through this project implemented by the Agency to strengthen national planning and management capabilities through an action plan for the implementation and monitoring of the National Strategy for Inclusive Education for the years 2020-2030. She then stressed the importance of cooperation with Yarmouk University through this project to develop the knowledge and skills of teachers and school principals concerning inclusive education and to raise and enhance community awareness about inclusive education through national, community and school events and activities. Hannak also pointed to the possibility of cooperation with the Ministry of Education in the field of sending a number of the ministry's teachers to complete their studies in the inclusive education diploma due to its importance in preparing teachers and providing them with various skills and knowledge necessary to deal and teach students with special needs correctly and effectively.
The meeting was attended by the Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor Mousa Rababah, the Dean of the Faculty of Educational Sciences, Dr. Ahmed Al-Sharifeen, Dr. Mohammad Mohidat from the Faculty of Educational Sciences, and the Director of Public Relations and Media, Dr. Nawzat Abu Al-Assal.
