His Majesty King Abdullah II called for increasing cooperation and coordination amongst private sector facilities on the one hand and with the government institutions on the other to accelerate the pace towards establishing e-learning in Jordan.



"Jordan is at the threshold of an new phase in this field," King Abdullah said in an opening remarks of the Jordanian Platform for e-Learning 2003 on Sunday. " Providing knowledge is the sole means to secure a better future for Jordan and its citizens... and unless we arm our youth with knowledge and educational skills we will never be able to secure neither our future nor theirs," the King added.



Jordan's message is not to work for the interest of its own people but for that of the Arab youth under the age of 25, who form 60% of the Arab world population, King Abdullah told an audience of educational experts and decision makers representing over 20 countries taking part in the platform.



The King said this initiative of e-learning is part of Jordan's comprehensive educational reform plan, which we have worked for so long to fulfill since the educational sector is the most important in the modernization process. Realizing all this requires greater concerted efforts designed to ensure better equal educational opportunities for all Jordanian, King Abdullah added.



The King also underlined the role of government institutions through activating their partnership with the private sector and the international organizations such as the world Bank as well as with other world companies such Microsoft, which has come to Jordan being an ideal example for reform and modernization.



The one-day forum, organized by the Integrated Technology Group (ITG), a leading IT company in Jordan, in cooperation with the Education Minister and Microsoft company, brings together a large number of educational experts and decision makers representing more than 20 world countries.



ITG is expected to form new partnerships with local IT companies in Qatar and Bahrain with a view to expand the e-learning experiment.



Participants in the forum discussed several aspects of e-learning and Jordan's accomplishments in this domain, clearly illustrated through launching schools-on-line project covering 100 pioneering schools where e-learning has been introduced in an initiative called "Gates for e-Learning" The forum was also connected live with a parallel forum in New Jersey and three schools in Amman, Manama and New Jersey were connected in an e-learning system that give the students the chance to learn through computer.



Director General of Microsoft operations in the Middle East Sherbel Fakhury paid tribute to Jordan's-learning programs describing them as pioneering in the region as e-learning in Jordan starts in the early stage of primary education.