HUMAN RES. SECTOR IN

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The major purpose of the Human Resources Development Sector Investment Loan Project was to support the first phase of the Government's 10-year Education Reform Program. Human resources play a critical role in Jordan's economy. Lacking natural endowments and relying heavily on imports, the country's prosperity depends on human capital earnings. Since the mid 1980's, Jordan has been losing its comparative advantage in these two areas owing to changing macroeconomic conditions and the qualitative shortcomings of its education system. The Government recognizes its need to raise the quality of basic and secondary education so as to develop its domestic technological capacity, and maintain its regional comparative advantage in terms of labor services. It has therefore formulated an education reform program to be implemented in three phases which includes: (a) restructuring the school system; (b) improving the quality of teaching and learning; (c) using sector resources more efficiently and increasing cost recovery levels; and (d) institutionalizing the capacity to sustain sectoral reform.