Za'atari Refugee Camp in Jordan has grown to the country's fifth-largest city.
Photo Credit: Getty Images / AFP

UNICEF Canada: education for Syrian refugee children

UNICEF Canada president, David Morley, is in Jordan this week, visiting the Za’atari Syrian refugee camp and some of the nearby communities where other refugees families have found shelter.

“People don’t talk about going home in the same way they did a couple of years ago”

Morley says the conditions in Za’atari are improving, describing the situation as “much more stable”. A water system and sanitation system, currently being installed, will greatly improve the conditions in the camp. The improvements are also a sign that the location, that now ranks as Jordan’s fifth-largest city, is becoming more pernanent. Morley says “people don’t talk about going home in the same way they did a couple of years ago”

According to UNICEF, there are 2,405,357 registered refugee children and children awaiting registration. There are estimated to be six million children in Syria in need. And the Za’atari camp has become a home, over the last five years of war and strife in Syria, to 160.000 people.

Some of the most daunting challenges in the camp, according to Morley, include the inability of the residents to work, they’re not allowed as refugees, and the missed opportunities for the children to continue their education.

UNICEF is addressing the childrens’ needs in putting a recent Canadian government contribution of $34 million (Cdn) to work in what are known as Makani Centres. There are 220 of them now providing remedial education to an estimated 40,000 children. The goal is to have all the children are prepared to enter the Jordanian system and continue their education in August when the new school year begins.

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