Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
126
Gender parity is unequal at upper secondary level, at around 115 in favour of girls both in 2012
and in 2014, with female enrolment rates 10 percentage point higher than male enrolment rates.
This could be due to several reasons including higher pressures for adolescent boys than for
adolescent girls to work/provide for the family, higher levels of violence in male schools and lack
of labour prospects upon completion of upper secondary cycle (thus dis-incentivising formal
school attendance and moving to non-formal/informal schools, work or apprenticeships). A study
from the National Council for Family Affairs (2010) found that female child labour is rare, with
employment among girls (5-17 years) of less than 0.5% 344.
Out of school children: Estimates on out-of-school children vary according to sources and the
reference population.
According to the Brussels report (2017), in December 2016, over 40,000 (i.e. 17%) of registered
school-age refugee children (5-17 years) were out of school. According to UNICEF (2014), 41%
of 5 year old children (KG2) are out of school as opposed to 1.1% of 6-11 year olds and 4.2% of
12-15 year olds. These UNICEF statistics do not include the refugee population but it is likely that
this pattern of large numbers of out of school children concentrated around the KG2 level can also
be found in the refugee populations.
Determinants of Access to Schooling
Given the high level of access to primary and secondary education in Jordan, disparities in
access to education in Jordan are small. They are more prevalent at the secondary level and
are mainly linked to income poverty, intergenerational transmission of education, child labour,
disability and refugee status.
Attendance and Completion Rates345 : Between 1997 and 2012, attendance rates for 6-11 year
olds improved by almost 10 percentage points from 89.3% to 98%. Attendance rates for 12-15
year olds and completion rates (finish 5 years of education and 8 years of education) increased
slightly to 94.3%, 97.9% and 93.9% in 2012. For attendance of 6-11 year olds, in 2012 there are
no significant disparities between the urban and rural areas, region, number of children at home,
poverty and gender.
Poverty: For the attendance rate of 6-11 year olds, the low correlation between poverty and
school attendance only slightly lower attendance rate among the poor may seem surprising at
first.
344 UNICEF (2014)
345 Based on 2005 and 2015 DHS data analysis
Not all students can access schools due to income level, geographic location, disadvantaged status,
special educational needs and disabilities, family obligations and refugee status. As a result, there are
over 110,000 out of school children in Jordan. Human Resource Development strategy