Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
129
difference). The gaps are smaller between primary aged children with HHwith primary education
versus children with HH with higher education (2-3 percentage points).
The disparities increase more significantly at secondary level. In 2012, in terms of attendance
rates for 12-15 year olds, there is almost a 16 percentage point difference between children in HH
where household head has no education (81.6%) and children with HH where household head
has higher educational attainment (97.2%).
With respect to completion rates of 8 years of schooling, the difference is of 17.5 percentage
points, with completion rates for children where household head has with no formal education at
only 80.9%.
These results point to an intergenerational
transmission of education (or low education) and
could be due to the circumstance of the household
head not having any formal education, acting as a
proxy for extreme poverty. In a country with high
literacy rates such as Jordan, having no formal
education, not even at primary level, is associated
with high incidence of poverty with consequent
higher pressures for older children to drop out of
school and work.
Disability. The DHS 2012 does not offer numbers
on access to schooling for disabled children.
Generally speaking, statistics on disabled children in
Jordan are incomplete for both Jordanians and
refugees. According to MoNE statistics, 7,239
students with disabilities entered primary and
secondary education in 2011, of whom 3,640 were
male and 3,599 female348 and according to the
population census there is an overall 11% disability rate across the population in Jordan
(including both Jordanians and non-Jordanians), frommild to severe disability, though the census
did not go into detailed analyses of the background those reported disabled.
With an 11 percent disability rate coupled with the low numbers of teachers trained in inclusive
education, few specialised facilities in the country, and the already poor state of many schools in
Jordan (and thus unlikely to be accommodating to children with disabilities), it is likely safe to
state that disabled children are disproportionately affected by low schooling access rates349 .
34
349 NCHRD (2016)
Figure 48 Percentage of disabled
children among Syrian refugee groups in
Jordan
Source: JENA
51
33
65
47
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Aged 6-
11
Aged
12-17
Aged 6-
11
Aged
12-17
Boys Girls
% of children with disabilities