JORDAN,S MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND DONORS MAKE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002502 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPARTMENT FOR NEA AND PRM E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREF IZ JO SUBJECT: JORDAN,S MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND DONORS MAKE PLANS TO INCREASE EDUCATION OF IRAQIS REF: A. AMMAN 2458 ¶B. AMMAN 2341 ¶C. AMMAN 2178 ¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Ministry of Education and donors are developing plans and identifying resources to educate additional Iraqi schoolchildren in Jordan in time for the August 19 start date of the next school year. UNICEF submitted an education strategy to the Minister of Education on June 7, and has nominated itself to lead the donor coordination process. The GOJ confirmed to NGOs and the foreign embassy community that "residency will have no bearing on access to public services" further opening the doors to its public schools for Iraqi children. END SUMMARY. DONORS MEETING ON EDUCATING IRAQIS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) EmbOffs attended an education-related donor meeting with representatives from the donor community in Amman (UNICEF, UNHCR, JICA, CIDA, UNDP, and Save the Children) on June 7. UNHCR Amman Representative Imran Riza reported the outcomes of a meeting convened earlier in the day under the auspices of Prince Rashid, Chairman of the Hashemite Charitable Organization and the Regional Human Security Center and attended by senior leadership of Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs, Education, Health, and Planning and International Cooperation. ¶3. (SBU) UNHCR and UNICEF reported that Iraqi access to education and health in Jordan were central themes of Prince Rashid's meeting. UNHCR and UNICEF cited Bisher Khasawneh, Director of the Jordan Information Center as saying, "Residency will have no bearing on access to public services." They also relayed their understanding that Norwegian NGO FAFO's findings on the Iraqi population may affect the GOJ's strategy of implementation, but not the basic tenet of allowing access to public services. As Embassy has previously reported (ref C),the two UN organizations noted that the Interior Ministry is responsible for ensuring access. ¶4. (SBU) Khasawneh later confirmed to poloff that GOJ policy is to grant access to public services - specifically education in Jordanian public schools and health care at public health facilities -- irrespective of residency. According to Khasawneh, this policy was laid out in a Royal Court directive issued several months ago. ¶5. (SBU) Riza urged donors to consider how their short term and humanitarian assistance programs mesh with Jordan's National Development plans. He encouraged donors to frame their assistance packages as expediting their assistance to the overall infrastructure of the Jordanian educational system. ¶6. (SBU) UNICEF Amman Representative Anne Skatvedt reported to other donors on her June 7 briefing with Minister of Education Touqan and SecGen Dr. Tayseer al Nahar. UNICEF presented the MOE with a concept paper outlining its strategy and possible short, medium, and long-term assistance measures in the education field. UNICEF proposed the formation of an inter-ministerial steering committee to be chaired by MOE's SecGen and which would include several donor representatives, and the formation of a project office for implementation of three to five full-time staff members. ¶7. (SBU) Bilateral agencies, including CIDA and USAID, requested that UNICEF share this concept note to better coordinate resource decisions. UNICEF agreed to share the note once the MOE officially adopts a strategy. NOTE: Post notes that UNICEF concept document includes many of the ideas in the proposed USAID/PRM drafted educational proposals (Ref C). END NOTE. MINISTRY OF EDUCATION -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Acting PolCouns and USAID Education Specialist met with MOE SecGen Nahar on June 9. Nahar considered the question of access for Iraqi students a political decision, and is focusing on technical preparations to implement the final policy decision. He reiterated the GOJ's objection to establishing a parallel educational system for Iraqis in Jordan. He strongly preferred to not "double-shift" students. However, in areas such as East Amman where students are already double-shifted, the MOE might consider temporarily using renting buildings or building pre-fabricated classrooms on existing school grounds. AMMAN 00002502 002 OF 002 ¶9. (SBU) Nahar said his Ministry is willing to double-shift its classrooms, but not its teachers, estimating that the Ministry would need to hire 1,000 new teachers on annual contracts and would expect to be reimbursed by donors. ¶10. (SBU) The GOJ estimates that 42% of Iraqi school-age children living in Jordan are already currently enrolled in either public or private schools based on interviews conducted by Save the Children. Extrapolating from this data, Dr. Nahar predicted that the GOJ will need to accommodate a total of 35,000 Iraqi students. The ministry estimated per-pupil education costs for Iraqi students based on 14,000, 35,000 and 50,000 total students. Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ Hale