UNIPATH STAFF
Jordan is using $100 million in grants from Britain, Norway, Sweden and the United States to enroll as many Syrian refugee children as possible in its school system.
Jordan has welcomed Syrian children into its schools since the refugee crisis erupted five years ago. While an estimated 145,000 refugee children were enrolled in 2015, nearly 100,000 could not be enrolled because of overcrowding, among other reasons.
The grants, announced in August 2016, helped Jordan double the number of schools offering second shifts, from 100 in 2015 to about 200 in 2016. The move added 50,000 classroom spots for Syrian children who fled across the border with their families to escape violence in their country.
To further reduce enrollment barriers, Jordan dropped its requirement that Syrian children have government-issued papers to be accepted into school. It also began offering a catch-up program for refugees 8 to 12 years old who have been out of school for several years.
“Jordan’s Education Ministry has taken an important step by ordering schools to accept Syrian children this fall even if they don’t have their papers in order,” said Bill Van Esveld, a researcher at the nonprofit Human Rights Watch organization. “This move advances Jordan’s significant efforts to support education for Syrian refugees.”
In Syria alone, an estimated 2.1 million children are not enrolled in school. Failing to provide an education limits their futures and makes them vulnerable to terrorist recruiters. “There are good reasons why we must act now if Syria’s refugee children are not to become a lost generation,” U.N. special envoy Gordon Brown wrote in The Guardian newspaper. “If we do nothing, thousands of refugee children may reach adulthood without ever enjoying even a first day at school.”
Sources: The Associated Press, Human Rights Watch, International Business Times