Before and after the renovation work. (© SDC)

About 6,000 children, including Syrian refugees, will benefit from the renovation of eight school buildings in Jordan. With this project, Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein are supporting the Jordanian government's school preservation programme and helping to ensure that Syrian and Jordanian children can attend school in a child-friendly environment.

About 280,000 Syrian refugees are living in Jordan, at least half of them are children and young people. Many suffered terrible experiences in their home country and while fleeing the conflict. They have not attended school for months. The normal rhythm and structure of their lives no longer exist.

In collaboration with Jordan’s Ministry of Education and co-financing from the Liechtenstein government, the SDC is renovating eight school buildings near the Za'atari refugee camp in the north of Jordan. At the same time, the SDC is supporting the Ministry in developing a school-maintenance programme and procuring urgently needed school furniture.

The SDC faces two problems in Jordan:

1. Many of those who have fled to Jordan are suffering economic hardship, but expect to remain there indefinitely. Because they have no hope of returning home soon they have to earn money to support themselves. According to UNICEF reports, this increasing pressure on families is also leading to an increase in child labour. Instead of attending classes, children work, even though they have free access to Jordanian schools. 

2. Many Jordanian schools can barely be used for normal teaching, since they were or are being used to accommodate refugees. 

School pupils move their desks so that the floor of their classroom can be washed. (© SDC)

“It’s all bright and shiny”
In the north of Jordan, where many refugees are located, the SDC is renovating eight school buildings: they are being furnished and returned to a child-friendly state. Once they have been renovated, regular teaching can resume for about 6,000 Syrian and Jordanian pupils (41% of those of school age are girls). Bushra, a young refugee girl from Daraa, a city in the south-west of Syria near the border with Jordan, and a pupil at one of the schools says: “I am very happy at school: it’s so pretty, all bright and shiny!”

The improved environment will make it easier for them to learn and to progress in their education. School bags and stationery were provided free of charge to ease the financial burden on the families and to prevent child labour. 

A renovated school in Ramtha, November 2012. (© SDC)

Support from Switzerland and Liechtenstein
Mahmoud Khatib, the principal of a boys’ school in Ramtha, reports: “The school has been extensively improved: repairs to the central heating system, the electricity network, and the renovation of its sanitary facilities have improved the general atmosphere at the school. We also run a campaign to raise the pupils’ awareness and to involve them in maintaining the school and keeping it in good condition. After all, it’s for their benefit that we are doing this.”

With this project, the SDC and the Principality of Liechtenstein are supporting the Jordanian Government's school preservation programme. The budget of CHF 300,000 was calculated based on an assessment mission by the SDC and staff from the Ministry of Education as well as on SDC's experience in similar situations.

The project is being implemented by the Jordanian Ministry of Education in close collaboration with the SDC office in Amman.

The project in brief

Thanks to improved living conditions, they will be better able to assert their rights and find their way in the place where they have sought shelter and protection. 

• A healthy child- and pupil-friendly learning environment for 6,000 Jordanian and Syrian children in eight schools in the north of Jordan. (Ramtha and Mafraq) 

• Enrolling more Syrian refugees in school.