Today, Syrian refugee children in Jordan face a bleak educational present, and an uncertain future. Close to one in three—226,000 out of 660,000—Syrians registered with the United Nations refugee agency in Jordan are school-aged children between 5-17 years old. Of these, more than one-third (over 80,000) did not receive a formal education last year.

There are almost 1.3 million Syrians today in Jordan, a country of 6.6 million citizens. Their arrival, and specifically that of Syrian children, since the outbreak of conflict in Syria in 2011, has spurred Jordan’s Education Ministry to take a number of steps to accommodate their educational needs. These include hiring new teachers; allowing free public school enrollment for Syrian children; and having second shifts at nearly 100 primary schools to create more classroom spaces. In the fall of 2016, the ministry aims to create 50,000 new spaces in public schools for Syrian children, and to reach 25,000 out-of-school children with accredited “catch-up classes.”

Donor aid, while consistently falling short of that requested by Jordan to host refugees, has played an important role in providing educational opportunities, and is set to increase: in February 2016, donors pledged to give US$700 million per year to Jordan for the next three years (although World Bank calculations put the cost of hosting Syrian refugees in Jordan at $2.5 billion annually), with the European Union (EU), United Kingdom (UK), Germany, United States, and Norway pledging $81.5 million in May specifically to support expanding access to education.

Such initiatives have had impact; between 2012 and 2016, the proportion of Syrian refugee children enrolled in formal education soared from 12 to 64 percent. Moreover, the donor-supported plan announced in February should significantly improve access to education for Syrian refugee children without lowering the quality of education for Jordanian children—a common concern.

Yet tens of thousands of Syrian children have remained out of classrooms, a problem that gets more acute as they get older and enrollment rates plummet.

This report addresses some of the key reasons why Jordan, despite increased efforts, has been unable to enroll more Syrian children in schools and keep them in the educational system. It also highlights key areas that should be addressed if the fundamental right of Syrian children to education is to be realized, and the foundation laid for them to be able to contribute meaningfully one day to Syria’s reconstruction.

Reports by the Human Rights Watch