Nashatati program

Context

Jordan has made significant progress toward universal access to primary education, with 97% of children enrolled in school and gender parity sustained since 1979. However, this progress has not been equitably distributed. Children with disabilities and refugee children, particularly Syrians, continue to face systemic barriers to accessing quality learning opportunities. The large influx of Syrian refugees has placed additional pressure on Jordan’s education system, straining resources and classroom capacity. School violence is a widespread issue, with 15% of students missing school atleast one day a year due to fear of bullying or physical harm. This figure rises sharply to 70% among Syrian refugee children in public schools. Addressing exclusion, school safety, and education quality remains an urgent priority.

Solution

Launched by Jordan’s Ministry of Education in partnership with UNICEF and Generations for Peace, the Nashatati program (2017-2021) aims to improve social and emotional life skills among students, aligning with Jordan’s Education Sector Plan. The program targets vulnerable children aged 12–15 through creative, participatory activities such as games, sports, storytelling, and voluntary activities that develop life skills and promote social cohesion, healthy living, and personal development. Activities are delivered both after school and during the school day, with sessions occasionally held on weekends to include parents and communities. The program focuses on developing 12 core life skills, covering civic, cognitive, self-management, and social skills.

School selection is based on criteria including student vulnerability, presence of school violence, absence of similar initiatives, and availability of safe play spaces. The program is flexible, and schools can choose activities and curriculum that best match the needs of their students. Teachers and volunteer youth leaders who will direct the daily sessions in schools were trained by the ministry. In 2019, the program was integrated into the school day, leveraging the Ministry of Education's (MoE) decision to allocate 20% of learning time to co-curricular activities. During the pandemic, the activities were shifted online. Initially launched in 100 schools, Nashatati expanded to 1000 public schools by 2021, after which it was transitioned from UNICEF support to direct MoE implementation as part of its institutionalization of extracurricular activities.

Impact

As of 2020, 180,000 students benefited from Nashatati program. According to a participatory evaluation of the program, school teachers and students who participated in the program demonstrated improved peer-to-peer relationships, increased confidence and tolerance, stronger communication and problem-solving skills, and a greater sense of community. The positive results from pilot stages led to the subsequent scale-up of the intervention. 34% of children and youth showed an increase in the ability to deal calmly with confrontation and not resort to violence, 35% showed increased willingness to play and work with other students of different ages and nationalities, and 43% showed an increase in tolerance and improved interpersonal acceptance. Further evaluation is needed to determine whether the program’s integration of life skills education leads to sustained, long-term impact, particularly regarding school violence and social integration of refugee students.

Analysis

The Nashatati program presents a promising model for integrating life skills and social cohesion into public education systems, with demonstrated adaptability, cost-effective delivery, strong government ownership, alignment with existing policy, and successful capacity-building of national institutions. These features support its replicability in similarly structured education contexts.

However, its long-term sustainability and further scalability across all schools and regions face structural challenges. The MoE’s 2022 report notes the absence of a fully developed national framework for extracurricular activities and inconsistent implementation capacity among teachers and school leaders. Not all schools have the physical infrastructure or staffing to support extracurricular programming, particularly in lower-income communities. Furthermore, the program lacks a clearly defined pathway linking extracurricular activities to academic outcomes. Nashatati functioned as a focused, well-supported initiative within a broader, underfunded vision for nationwide life skills education. Without increased investment and clearer guidance, replicating Nashatati’s success at scale remains limited. Strengthening the national extracurricular framework and ensuring sustainable financing are key to achieving system-wide integration of life skills programming.