Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
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Early Marriage. Challenges such as early marriage do persist in some communities, and 10% of
girls are married before turning 18 years old364. Girls who are working are usually involved in
domestic labour and the employment rate among girls aged 5-17 is less than 0.5% according to
the NCFA 2010 report365. The drastic reduction in enrolment for girls aged 16-17 who
are working could be due to early marriage and the girls assuming the traditional role of stay-at-
home spouse. The housework may lead to higher absenteeism rates (increasing risks of drop out)
or quitting school altogether.
Culture and female employment. Girls and young women’s participation in labour outside the
household is very low. As such there are relatively fewer incentives to drop-out of school for girls
than for boys. Staying in school for certain girls can also be seen as increasing their marriage
prospects. However, all this ‘extra’ education of girls does not translate into more women joining
the work force. The labour force participation rate for young women aged 15-24 is only 9 per cent,
while the corresponding percentage for young men is 41 per cent366.
Urban/Location. Even though many working children are employed in the farming sector, child
labour can be still be considered a mostly urban phenomenon. The report showed that 79% of
working children work in urban areas, while 21% work in rural areas367. Amman employs over
32% of all working children. This can mean that cities offer more economic/work opportunities
to children than rural areas.
Cost of schooling/transport/distance to schools: Generally, the main indirect costs associated
with attending school in Jordan are transport costs. Given the high supply of schools across the
country, transport costs have generally been moderate thus leading to the large school access
rates. However there remain some poor and under-served areas, with transportation costs thus
becoming a barrier to access for the poorest families. Among the refugee population, there are
transport issues both inside and outside of camps. It is important to note that the high
temperatures can sometimes make walking to school very difficult. Therefore, even small
distances can become a barrier, leading to transport needs/costs.
Violence, maltreatment and discrimination: Concern for safety and violence are major
demand-side barriers. A national survey on the prevalence of violence at home and in schools that
was conducted by UNICEF in 2007 revealing that two thirds of children in Jordan are subjected to
verbal abuse by their parents (70 per cent), school teachers and administrators (71 per cent),
around 34 per cent of children are physically abused by parents/legal guardians, and about 57
per cent by school teachers and administrators368. A study by Abu Hamdan (2005) found that “the
most important reason for working children to leave the school is the unfriendly behaviour of
364 NCHRD (2016) and UNICEF (2014)
365 UNICEF (2014)
366 UNICEF (2011)
367 UNICEF (2014)
368