IRAQI ENROLLMENT IN JORDANIAN SCHOOLS

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 003907

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA AND PRM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/19/2017
TAGS: PGOV PREF SOCI EAID IZ JO
SUBJECT: IRAQI ENROLLMENT IN JORDANIAN SCHOOLS

REF: A. AMMAN 3871

B. AMMAN 3208

Classified By: Ambassador David Hale for Reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)


1. (SBU) In response to lower-than-expected enrollment of
Iraqis and anecdotal reports of stumbling blocks to Iraqi
registration in Jordanian public schools (ref A),UNCHR and
UNICEF convened a standing-room only meeting of NGOs and
donors on September 18 to identify outstanding obstacles to
Iraqi enrollment. UNHCR's deputy representative Peter
Janssen and UNICEF emergency coordinator Jonathan Cunliffe
asked NGOs working with Iraqis to identify specific problems
Iraqis faced, and to name schools so that UNHCR and UNICEF
could raise their concerns directly with the Ministry of
Education. NGOs that work closely with Iraqis, including
Save the Children, Mercy Corps, Relief International,
International Relief and Development, and CARE were unable to
identify more than a handful of individual cases in which
Iraqis were currently unable to register. When asked about
previously reported cases, they replied that most appeared to
be individual instances of misinformation that had since been
resolved.


2. (SBU) When asked to explain the limited enrollment
figures, NGO's identified three primary reasons: (1) a number
of students have been out of formal educational systems for
two or more years, and are electing not to return to school;
(2) given the reported declining savings of Iraqi families,
some school-age children work (illegally) to support their
families; and (3) differences in the Jordanian curriculum
make it more difficult for Iraqis to quickly acclimate to the
Jordanian system.


3. (SBU) During the meeting, Save the Children proposed a
voucher system for providing school uniforms and stationery
kits to needy Iraqi children who might not otherwise be able
to afford the incidental costs of school enrollment. Save
the Children and other NGOs said they had identified several
local suppliers, and agreed to work with UNICEF to seek
Ministry of Education support for an implementing mechanism
during the remaining (recently extended) period for school
registration. When pressed to estimate the number of
additional Iraqi enrollments this program could generate,
Save the Children hesitated, but conceded that at most 5,000
additional students could be recruited.


4. (SBU) In a follow-on meeting to draft an agenda for the
next joint UNHCR-UNICEF-Save the Children-USAID meeting with
the MOE, Janssen and Cunliffe expressed frustration with the
less-than-expected enrollment, and suggested that perhaps
there were fewer Iraqis (or at least fewer school-age Iraqis)
in Jordan than expected. They concluded that the handful of
individual obstacles to registration raised in the preceding
meeting were isolated -- not a structural or systemic issue
that the Ministry of Education could impact. They
acknowledged to Emboffs that the MOE had acceded to all of
their requests, and expressed their beliefs that future
efforts need to be focused on the non-formal and informal
education fronts.


5. (C) COMMENT: After some initial prodding and once a
policy-level decision was made (ref B),the GOJ and the
Ministry of Education have worked collaboratively with donors
and the UN agencies. Initial expectations of immediate
enrollment in excess of 50,000 may have been overly
optimistic given the dearth of information about the
demography and needs of the Iraqi population in Jordan.
Regardless, Post will continue to follow Iraqi school
enrollment closely, and work vigorously with the Ministry of
Education, the UN, NGOs and other donors to identify ways to
meet the educational needs of the displaced Iraqi community.
Given the apparent exhaustion of mechanisms to expand
enrollment in the formal sector, we will push the donor
community and GOJ on the best means to support and advance
non-formal education programs. END COMMENT

Hale