Countries donate JD51 million to support Syrian education in Jordan

AMMAN — Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Norway, the UK and the US announced on Monday that they will make JD51 million available to fund the Jordanian government's plan for “Accelerating Access to Quality Formal Education for Syrian Refugee Children” in school year 2018-2019.

Through the “Accelerating Access to Education Initiative”(AAI) the Jordanian government with the support from donors will provide quality public education to an estimated 130,000 Syrian refugee children.

The support will also help in employing and training new teachers, financing salaries for teachers and administrative staff, opening additional double shift schools, purchasing school books, providing tuition fees and covering costs for operations, and equipment in these schools, according to a statement by the Ministry of Education e-mailed to The Jordan Times.

During an event Monday where the announcement was made, Minister of Education Azmi Mahafzah reiterated Jordan’s commitment to provide education for all children.

The minister provided an update on progress of the ministry’s plan for “Accelerating Access” and asked for the continuation of donors’ financial support for the 2018/2019 scholastic year.

Ambassadors and representatives of Australia, Canada, the EU, Germany, Norway, the UK and the US made jointly available up to JD51million in order to cover a large proportion of the Ministry of Education’s requirements for the new school year.

Donors committed additional funding in the amount of: Australia JD2.7 million; Canada JD2.7million; the EU JD10 million; Germany JD17million in new commitments; Norway JD1.5million; the UK JD9.2million; the US JD0.7million.

Officials and donors agreed that the focus of this year will be on reaching children still not in education including increasing access to Kindergarten and improving quality education provision.

The Ministry of Education also stressed that it will continue to focus on equity of education. In addition, schools will be better equipped by providing electricity to all camp schools, increasing the number of libraries, computer labs and science labs in camp schools.

The Ministry of Education with support from donors will continue to provide additional teachers and administrative staff for host communities and camp schools.