HRW commends positive steps on education for Syrian children

AMMAN — Human Rights Watch (HRW) has praised steps taken by the government to facilitate education for Syrian refugee children.

In a statement Monday, the watchdog cited instructions by Deputy Prime Minister for Services and Minister of Education Mohammad Thneibat to public schools “to allow Syrian children to register in the fall semester even if they lack government-issued documents that were previously required”.

“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, senior children’s rights researcher at Human Rights Watch. “This move advances Jordan’s significant efforts to support education for Syrian refugees.”

Other measures include doubling the number of schools operating “double shifts” to create spaces for up to 50,000 more Syrian students, and establishing a “catch-up” programme to reach another 25,000 children aged 8 to 12, who have been out of school for three or more years, reversing a policy that barred all children who were three or more years behind their age cohort from enrolling.

In a recent report, Human Rights Watch identified lack of service cards, issued to Syrians by the Interior Ministry, and the “three-year rule” among the policy barriers that have prevented many Syrian children from receiving an education in Jordan. 

More than 83,000 Syrian refugee children were not in formal education during the last school year — 68,000 of them in towns and cities and the rest in refugee camps, the organisation said, citing UN data that the Education Ministry presented on August 16. About 50,000 of these children have been out of school for more than three years. 

There remain some difficulties to overcome. 

Under the Education Ministry’s new plans, the HRW noted, Syrian children will not necessarily be enrolled at the school where they register if those schools are overcrowded. 

“But if children are enrolled at distant schools, they may be unable to afford transportation, and longer distances may be an insurmountable barrier for children with disabilities. The Education Ministry, with support from donors and UN agencies, should ensure that children are enrolled in schools that they can reach”.

“Donors and other Jordanian officials should support the Education Ministry’s efforts to get all children on Jordanian soil into school,” Esveld said. “The ministry’s plans should benefit thousands more Syrian children this year, but for many, the lack of access to school is still an ongoing crisis.”