15 minutes of preschool for a refugee child in Jordan

With the rapid influx of over 300,000 children from neighboring Syria between 2014 and 2016, the existing education infrastructure was overwhelmed. Refugee children, girls, children with disabilities, and children in tent settlements were particularly disadvantaged in accessing education (Jordan Response Plan for the Syrian Crisis, 2019). In 2018, the United Nations Refugee Agency reported that 73,137 Syrian refugee children were out of school (UNHCR, Annual Report 2017). In addition, it is estimated that nearly 77,000 Jordanian children between the ages of 5 and 15 were out of school in 2014 (HRW, 2016). Jordan is thus faced with the challenge of providing quality education to all children in the country.

Many schools in Jordan remain overcrowded and under-resourced. Only one in five children in second and third grade can read at their grade level. The lack of early childhood education in institutions such as kindergartens and preschools is a key factor contributing to poor performance in primary school and dropouts. For this reason, the Jordanian Ministry of Education has made a pre-school year compulsory starting in the 2020/2021 school year. However, refugee camps lack the capacity to provide such a year to all pre-school children. To respond to this situation, non-governmental organizations have offered their help and developed a comprehensive early childhood education program.