Amman, Sept. 24 (Petra) – The United Kingdom on Thursday announced a new £2.85 million contribution to UNICEF to extend their partnership supporting education for refugee and vulnerable children in Jordan for three years, from October 2026 through August 2029.
UNICEF stated that the funding will support safe and inclusive education services for around 20,000 refugee children in Azraq, Zaatari, and Gardens camps.
The funding will also assist the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development in strengthening foundational literacy and numeracy through a nationally led remedial education system and establishing an early warning system to identify children at risk of dropping out of school and provide them with appropriate support.
Other areas of support include safe and inclusive learning environments with water and sanitation facilities, as well as child protection and psychosocial support services.
For foundational literacy and numeracy, the funding will help the ministry develop and validate a national remedial education model based on evidence from UNICEF’s Reading Recovery Program and Mathematics Accelerated Program. It will also support standardized risk identification and referral pathways and the adaptation of learning materials, teacher training programs, and assessment tools for children with disabilities and learning difficulties.
Marc Rubin, UNICEF Representative to Jordan, said: "Education is every child’s right, but access alone is not enough – children must also learn and remain in school. This partnership links essential support for refugee children with longer-term reform, using evidence to strengthen foundational learning, identify children at risk earlier and make education more inclusive. We thank the United Kingdom for investing in solutions that can deliver lasting results for the most vulnerable children." Philip Hall, British Ambassador to Jordan, stated: "The UK supports education in Jordan from early reading and numeracy to postgraduate studies. Today the UK and UNICEF are announcing that they will work together with the Ministry of Education for a further three years to improve education for refugee and vulnerable children." The extended program aligns with and supports Jordan’s Education Sector Plan 2026–2030, Education Reform Action Plan, Education Resilience and Access programme, Inclusive Education Strategy and Out-of-School Children Initiative.
//Petra// AO
