Secondary Education for Syrian Refugees in Jordan Is Falling Behind

Syrian refugee students in Jordan usually attend public schools. Around half of them study in second-shift schools established by the Ministry of Education to minimise overcrowding.

The numbers of students enrolled in second-shift schools are mostly concentrated in the capital Amman governorate, and Irbid in the northern region of Jordan. Around half of the Syrian refugees in Jordan live in these two governorates, and they are estimated to form approximately two third of the Syrian refugees who live outside the camps.

Second-shift schools dedicated to Syrian refugees in Amman and Irbid are vital for their education. Those schools receive two-thirds of Syrian students in Amman and around 75% of Syrian students in Irbid./ Two-thirds of Syrian students attend those schools in Amman compared to 75% in Irbid. Despite that, not enough attention is given to secondary education at these schools, as they include a lower percentage of secondary school classrooms compared to other public schools in both governorates.

Public schools databases in the two governorates show that the percentage of second-shift schools dedicated to Syrian refugees that include grade ten are similar to other public schools.

Grades eleven and twelve classes decrease in number at second-shift schools when compared to other public schools. .

Human Rights Watch sees that Jordan’s success in increasing the enrolment of Syrian refugee children in public schools at the primary level is undermined by the failure to keep them in secondary level education, and as figures show, less than a third of Syrian refugees of secondary level age attend school (footnotes 12 and 13).

According to a report issued by HRW in 2020, this happened while Jordan and foreign donor funding targeted few programs that focus specifically on the needs of secondary-school-

Worldwide, 24% of refugees are enrolled in secondary schools. For example, the percentage of Syrian refugees enrolled in secondary education in Turkey stands at 27%, while it is less than 4% in Lebanon.

In 2017, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) launched the “Hajati program”, which provided financial support for children from the most vulnerable families who are enrolled in schools with the two shift regime. Most of these are Syrian refugees, and each child receives twenty Jordanian Dinars ($30) per month during the semester.

But in 2018, UNICEF had to stop the aid provided by this program to 45000 children due to the lack of funds, and the program was downsized to support only 10000 children.

UNICEF says that the program has helped to increase the chances for children to further their education, as figures have revealed that children who receive support from “Hajati program” are 25% more likely to complete their secondary education.

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child highlights that signatory governments must uphold the rights of the child to education and accordingly, they must make primary education compulsory and available free of charge to all. The convention also “encourages the development of different forms of secondary education, including general and vocational education, and make them available and accessible to every child, and take appropriate measures such as the introduction of free education and offering financial assistance for those most in need.”

Despite this, Human Rights Watch says that humanitarian aid does not make special arrangements for the provisions of secondary school education enrolment, and it seems impossible to know how much funding is allocated to secondary level education.