Education Provision for Syrian Refugee Children in Jordan

Abstract

This paper attempts to shed light on the main challenges and barriers to formal primary education for Syrian refugee children in Jordan. It shows how school enrollment and Jordan's educational services for Syrian refugee children have been negatively affected by policies limiting their access to Jordanian public schools. Other barriers include child labor, early marriage, stakeholders inter collaboration problems, and social tensions between Syrian refugees and host communities. Also, it outlines refugee children's special educational needs and several safety aspects and risks associated with insufficient education. The paper also questions whether Syrian refugee children's situation will improve unless Jordan undertakes reforms that go beyond the framework of its current education policies and gets more considerable donor funding targeted at improving access to schools. Lastly, this article provides three policy options to assist Jordan and other stakeholders in taking essential steps to ensure that Syrian refugee children can realize their right to education.

Keywords

• primary education; refugee; children; quality; jordan; syria; barriers to education; fragility; school dropouts; child-labor; early marriage; social tensions