Education of Disadvantaged Children in OIC:
The Key to Escape from Poverty
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the MoE and international organisations or will join informal learning centres such as the Makanis
(see section 4 for in-depth description of Makanis).
Rules on disability access. Students with disabilities are allowed to enrol in schools that can
address or accommodate their type of disability. There are very few that offer specialised facilities
and/or have trained teachers, so it is likely that mainstream public schools refuse entry to
disabled children or that parents do not attempt to enrol them. Additionally, a medical model
serves as the basis for students to access education, giving medical authorities the absolute power
to determine the needs of the disabled and leading to inadequate placements in schools379.
Shortages in quantity and quality of school supply:
Refugees. In recent years, the public school system’s capacity to accommodate students has been
substantially strained due to the influx of refugees. This additional pressure on the education
system also affects the quality of education that some Jordanian children will receive. In
2015/2016, the enrolment of Syrian students was 8.75 times that of 2011-2012380 . While the
number of double-shift schools increased by about 100 to a total of 200 (about 11.7% of all
schools), it is not a long-term solution as double-shift schools notoriously provide lower quality
education. The MoE estimates that accommodating Syrian students in public education will
require an additional 260 new schools381. For the children that are not able to enrol in formal
public schools, there exists non-formal education and informal educational facilities, however
there are limitations in access.
According to the Jordan Response Plan382, an estimated 97,000 Syrian refugee children remain
out of formal education: an astounding “97% of school-aged Syrian refugee children are at high
risk of non-attendance, 300 new schools would be needed to meet the national standard of 19 classes
per school and 8,600 teachers would be needed to meet the national standard of 17 students per
teacher”.
Disability. Based on the small survey carried out for the JENA on disabled refugee children, the
most quoted reason for not attending school was the school not being physically accessible or
lacking specialist education services383 . The Special Education Directorate at the MoE estimated
that only 10 percent of MoE schools were considered accessible for students with disabilities in
2012384 .
Pre-school and private schools supply trends: Attention to the importance of pre-school has
recently emerged and Early Childhood Education is a pillar of the new HRD strategy moving
forward. In terms of school supply, the government has a significant shortage of public school
379 NCHRD (2016)
380 NCHRD (2016)
381 NCHRD (2016)
382 JRP (2015)
383 UNICEF/JENA (2014)
384 NCHRD (2016)