Ammon News -

Australia, Canada, the European Union, Germany, Norway, the United Kingdom, and the United States announced on Thursday that they will continue to support Government of Jordan’s landmark commitment to provide quality education for every child in Jordan regardless of their nationality.

Through the “Accelerating Access to Education Initiative” (AAI 2.0) the Government of Jordan - with support from donors - will continue in delivering this promise and providing quality public education to an estimated 144,000 Syrian refugee children and 18,000 Non-Syrian children. This includes: training new teachers, financing salaries for teachers and administrative staff, opening additional double shift schools, supporting blended learning, purchasing school books, providing tuition fees, and covering costs for operations and equipment in these schools. The AAI 2.0 represents the second phase of the education access and quality support.

The Minister of Education H.E. Dr. Wajih Owais, Invited the donor community to the Ministry of Education to reiterate Jordan’s commitment to provide education for all children. H.E. Dr. Owais provided an update on progress of the Ministry’s plan for “Accelerating Access” and asked for the continuation of donors’ financial support for the 2021/2022 scholastic year. He said, “It gives me great pleasure to announce this support for the year 2021/2022. For the fifth year in a row, donor nations extended support to the Ministry of Education so that it can continue to work towards fulfilling its commitment towards providing quality education for all children. At a time where the educational system is facing increasing pressures and challenges, this support is seen as invaluable to help the Ministry deliver on its promises.”
Ambassadors and representatives of Australia, Canada, the EU, Germany, Norway, the UK, and the United States jointly provided up to 51 million JD in order to cover a large proportion of the Ministry of Education’s requirements for the 2020/2021 school year. Donors committed additional funding in approximate JOD equivalents as follows: -Australia JOD 1.6 million; Canada JOD 2.8 million; EU JOD 12.4 million; Germany JOD 21 million; Norway JOD 3.1 million; UK JOD 4.4 million; and U.S. JOD 3.5 million.

The Ministers and donors agreed that the focus of this year will be on reaching Syrian and non-Syrian refugee children out of education including increasing access to Kindergarten and ensuring quality and inclusive education provision. The Ministry of Education also confirmed that it will continue to focus on equity in education. For this reason, AAI 2.0 will increase resources for: expanding enrolment of Syrian/non-Syrian refugees and other vulnerable groups enrolled in non-formal education programming; children with disabilities in public schools; and teachers and students in schools serving Syrian students, including in the camps and double-shift schools.
The Ministry of Education with support from donors will continue to provide additional teachers and administrative staff for host communities and camp schools.

The Minister of Education and donors agreed to work together to continue to support the efforts of the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation in providing, managing, and directing the external funds towards the prioritized programs and projects. Furthermore, His Excellency and donors emphasized the importance of all children returning to school and strengthening the quality and capacity of the education system to improve the learning outcomes for all children as set out by the recommendations of the National Strategy for Human Resources Development 2016-2025 and the Education Strategic Plan 2018-2022.