Ammon News - AMMON NEWS - European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy, Stefan Füle, will inaugurate the UNICEF-supported second school in Za’atari camp on June 4, 2013. The opening of the school has allowed an additional 5,000 refugee children to receive much-needed education after living through months of violence in Syria.

Commissioner Füle will also sign a new agreement with UNICEF to ensure access to education for vulnerable Syrian children living in Jordan’s camps and host communities. The European Union has already contributed 10 million Euros to the UNICEF programme. The agreement, to be signed on the 4th June, is a top up of 5.5 million Euros to the existing contributions, taking EU support to the UNICEF education emergency programme for Syrians to 15.5 million Euros. During the visit the EU commissioner will make further announcements in relation to support for Syrian refugees.

With the massive increase in the number of Syrian refugees crossing into Jordan since the beginning of this year, Za’atari camp is currently hosting over 100,000 refugees. More than half of them are children. Several thousand students are registered at school in Za’atari. To respond to the large influx of refugees, UNICEF is building an additional school and several playgrounds in the camp, as well as opening remedial education facilities.

Since 1946 UNICEF has been the world’s leader for children, working in more than 150 countries to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for poor countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.