Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
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It could be explained by several factors: (1) As seen earlier, the long standing policy of providing
a school for every community with 10 or more children of school-age has enabled poor children
in remote areas to enrol by breaking down the classic barriers of lack of schools or transport costs
to schools (2) Child labour particularly affects older children in poor households346, as such there
is not a high opportunity cost to attending school for the younger children, especially since
schooling is free and compulsory (3) The lowest wealth quintile may not be acting as a good proxy
for poverty in middle-income Jordan if that quintile includes large numbers of households that
are above the poverty line (4) The DHS is a nationally representative sample that includes
refugees in camps. The latter are registered and have been provided cash-support and schooling
by international organisations with a lot of focus on the younger children. Therefore, while they
are definitely a poor and vulnerable group, the ones in camps are being provided access to schools,
lowering the correlation between poverty and access to schooling.
In addition, in 2012, the number of refugees was significantly lower than today, as more refugees
have continued to enter the country since then, with the majority staying in host communities
rather than camps. It is probable that today the disparities between poor and non-poor in access
to schooling may have increased since 2012.
Poverty plays a larger role in access to schooling for older children and this can be seen even in
the 2012 DHS data. There is a 9 percentage point difference in the attendance rate for 12-15 year
olds between the poorest and the richest wealth quintiles and almost 12 percentage points
difference in the completion rate of 8 years of schooling. The causes for these disparities are multi-
faceted but include, as noted earlier, the increasing pressures to work for older children in poor
households, especially boys as well as the higher incidence of early marriage for girls from lower
socio-economic backgrounds.
Gender: The DHS 2012 finds that boys are slightly disadvantaged compared to girls in access to
schooling at secondary level, with male attendance rates for 12-15 year olds at 93.4% (vs 95.2%
female attendance) and a 91.7% completion rate of 8 years of education (vs 96.3%). These
findings are in line with the GERs reported in the UIS/UNESCO database, with male child labour
and violence in male schools likely being significant contributors to this disparity.
Location/Area of residence: There are almost no differences between urban and rural centres
in access to schooling for children of primary school level age. The disparities are slightly more
noticeable at secondary level. What is of particular interest is that older children have lower
access rates in urban areas, instead of the more classic finding of lower access rates in rural areas.
This could be explained by differing labour markets. There are more opportunities for work in
urban centres and thus more incentives to drop-out of school at secondary level. A report from
346 UNICEF (2014) “Working children and their families and professionals agreed that the main reason for child labour in Jordan
is poverty (Focus group in Ramtha)” p.35