UNESCO Office for Iraq

Erbil, 13 November 2016 – the new “National Curricula and Assessment Center” in Erbil was officially opened by H. Exc. Dr. Pshtiwan Sadiq Abdallah , Minister of Education of the Krdistan Regional Government, with the participation of UNESCO and UNICEF.

The Center and its staff will play a leading role in developing curricula, textbooks, testing and assessment systems in accordance with regional and international standards of quality education.

UNESCO has contributed to the establishment of this new Center in the context of its project “Development of New Iraqi Curricula”, funded by “Education Above All”, Qatar.   In particular, a core team of staff has been trained to develop the educational process; practical guidelines for the process of textbooks evaluation, piloting process of the curricula and curriculum development management.

Also together with curriculum and assessment specialists, UNESCO developed a National Framework for Assessment and Evaluation; and worked on how to assess the classroom assessment, teacher assessment, school assessment, current status of the general exams and the national and international tests.

Finally, the Center has been furnished and equipped with  international resource material for the curriculum development.

“All these efforts were made to ensure that the National Curricula and Assessment Center has the necessary structure – and infrastructure – to function and develop in a sustainable manner,” said Ms. Louise Haxthausen, Officer-In-Charge of the UNESCO Office for Iraq, at the opening ceremony. “The establishment of this center is at the heart of UNESCO’s capacity development efforts for quality education.”