For one full month 40 education specialists from Afghanistan gathered in Amman to develop new syllabuses for upper and lower secondary education (grades 7 to 12) – see workshop Agenda and Overview. The Amman workshop was organised jointly by the Ministry of Education, Afghanistan, UNESCO Office Afghanistan and IBE UNESCO ( Geneva) in the context of the UNESCO and MoE Programme: Reconstruction of the Afghanistan Education System. It was designed as follow up activity of the Kabul workshop (August-September 2006) during which a new Secondary Curriculum Framework was issued.
The IBE provided technical assistance to the Ministry of Education/Presidency for Curriculum and Textbooks by mobilizing international consultants from several countries (Dr. Khalil Elaian and Al OBEIKAN Research and Development/Jordan – see List of Jordanian consultants; U.S.A.: Dr. Sandra Stotsky and Dr. Anne Yates; Australia: Mr. Philip Stabbak; and Romania: Mrs. Dakmara Georgescu, IBE Programme Coordinator) .
Mr. Abdul Nabi Wahedi, General Director, Presidency of Curriculum and Textbooks, thinks that the workshop was extremely challenging for many complex issues had to be tackled in a short period of time. However the work which was done is tremendously important for Afghanistan thus it was definitely worth the effort. He also thinks the new syllabuses are extremely important for the renewal of the Afghanistan education and society at large. Although many things had to be done at the same time he considers the workshop was well organised and offered to participants good conditions to fulfil their tasks (see Progress Report at the end of the first two weeks). Mr. Wahedi and the ministry of Education highly appreciate the efforts the UNESCO Office Afghanistan and the IBE put into the realisation of this activity.
Dr. 
Nang Arsala, Advisor to the ministry, Afghan ex-patriot from The Netherlands, and specialist in physics and mathematics, considers the products of this workshop equivalent to a “quantum jump” from the curriculum in use to a modern curriculum which fits better the twenty-first century. Considering the short time available for the making of the new syllabuses, Dr. Arsala thinks that the new curricula deserve a lot of appreciation and he hopes that the teachers will be trained in compliance with the high standards set for all subjects. He also reckons that, while Afghanistan is facing so many problems which pose serious limitations to reform attempt, this workshop is a very good start into future quality improvements. For instance, in physics, the curriculum specialists present in Amman introduced strands and topics such as modern physics (atomic and particle physics, astronomy) in order to allow for openness to change and international exchanges, now and in the future. In science and mathematics doors were opened for introducing new approaches based on the usage of new technologies such as graphing calculators and ICT. Dr. Arsala thinks that international cooperation between the Afghan participants and the IBE team (Al OBEIKAN consultants and other) was essential to achieving the workshop goals and extremely inspiring and productive.
