Jordan Gets Sorely Needed Grants to Help Their Syrian Refugees

There are currently 1.4 million Syrian refugees in the kingdom of Jordan, a country which has been quite accommodating to those affected by the turmoil around them. They also currently have 2.1 million Palestine refugees fleeing the terrors of war, which have caused a damper on their economy. Thankfully, they should be receiving 100 million dollars in aid to help specifically give the opportunity of education to the children of the Syrian refugees. This money comes from several donor countries, and should actually go into effect within the month. This objective comes quicker than expected, as much of donation money must go through bureaucratic systems to find the correct placement for the funds.

The way in which this money will aid in education is to create second shifts for schools in Jordan. Second shift schools are educational facilities that expand their time to have yet another day of school within the same day. This can be exhausting for teachers and challenging for school systems to find capable teachers. Lebanon had undergone very similar challenges in trying to educate the young Syrian refugees. The funds will hopefully allow schools to expand and accommodate the larger numbers of students. Since there are already 98 schools which are currently second shift, this money will bring the number to 200.

These schools are sorely needed, as an estimate has come forward claiming 70,000 children in the region around Syria are not attending school. The funds have come forward on Monday after Jordan has come to an agreement to accept the funds for education from Switzerland, Norway, the U.S. and Britain. While throwing money at a problem is not always the best policy, it seems that these funds are bound to increase the teacher pool, and even create more jobs within the country of Jordan. It’s wonderful to see these five countries coming together to flourish in humanitarian efforts.

Image via Flickr/DFID – UK Department for International Development.