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“Palestinian refugees,
traditionally great believers in the power of learning, have seized
opportunities presented
by relief agencies to make their community one of the strongest
in the region in terms
of basic education.” Said Im Izzar, a teacher at one of Baqaa
refugee Palestinian camp
in Jordan.
It is perhaps the very
precarious existence of the refugees in Jordan’s camp, who number
an estimated 277,555
that leads them to put their faith in education.
“We stick to education
because it’s the only way we can guarantee our future and the future
of our kids, added Im
Izzar who is herself a Palestinian refugee like 99 per cent of her
colleagues. “Getting out
of this tunnel means we have to stick to studying. The motivation
that the teachers and
the students have is a weapon we work with.” She said.
An English volunteer
working for UNRWA (United Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian
Refugees in the Near
East) thinks that the difficulties and adversities of refugee life
actually
make the pupils
stronger.
“They want to have a
better future, one that’s different from [the lives of] their
parents, and
that’s why they are
trying very hard,” says the volunteer with UNRWA, which has
shouldered
the burden of educating
three generations of Palestinian refugees, who make up as much
as half of Jordan’s
population of 4.8 million.
Life in a refugee camp
does not make it easy to do well in school.
To begin with, there is
the issue of just getting to school at all. There are agency
vehicles
to pick up students from
the principal camps-but even catching the bus can be draining.
“It’s easier to keep up
with your studies when you are in Weihdat, a Palestinian camp in
Amman-Jordan than when
you are living 15 km from [the UNRWA school in] Maan [south
of Jprdan] so that you
have to walk a lot to get to the school or to the place a bus from
UNRWA pass regularly,
since you don’t have the money to take a [regular] bus,” says Jean
Christophe Auge, a
French researcher who studies Jordan’s school system for Cermoc
(Centre of Studies and
Research on the Contemporary Middle East).
“My kids are trying very
hard” says Fatima, a mother of four living in a camp in Jerash.
“Sometimes they only
have coffee or tea for breakfast, but I know they are the only hope
I have and I know they
will make it.”
Despite the obstacles, a
significant number actually do. Today, according to UNRWA
officials, around 30 per
cent of Palestinians refugees finish the Tawjihi (high school).
Besides the traditional
Palestinian emphasis on education, the achievements to date can
be ascribed to the
efforts of UNRWA.
Two years ago , the
agency had a total education budget estimated $ 161.721 million, the
72% of total field
budget.Jordan receives $ 49,996. The money helped maintain UNRWA’s
network of 198 schools
for refugees here, which like all agency schools use the curriculum
of their host country.
The aim of the agency is
to give the young refugees a basic education and fair access to
higher learning and
employment opportunities. All Palestinian refugee pupils registered
with the agency are
eligible to receive basic elementary and preparatory schooling for
nine
to ten years.
UNRWA offers six years
of elementary education and four years of preparatory (junior high
school) education in
Jordan.
According to agency
statistics for the 1999-2000 academic year, UNRWA’s grand total
of pupils: boys 31,390;
girls 30,747.
The vocational and
technical education programme offers practical training for
positions
currently multiplying in
the region, including welders, carpenters, electricians,
metalworkers,
machinists, appliance,
repairmen and hairdressers.
In Jordan, the agency
runs two centers: one in Wadi Seer, with 820 trainees and another
one in Amman, with 468
trainees. Short-term training courses of 8-40 weeks are available.
UNRWA’s technical and
semi-professional courses prepare refugees to be lab technicians,
pre-school teachers,
word processors, assistant pharmacists, industrial electricians and
interior decorators.
“It important to prepare
the students well, so that they’re ready to search for a job that
will
help them to live
better,” says Im Izzar.
To maintain and improve
the quality of education provided to Palestinian refugees,
UNRWA trains around
1,200 staff members each year.
“They receive training
to improve their teaching methods, to adapt to curriculum changes,
and to develop their
educational and supervisory skills,” says Omar Ghawen, who heads
UNRWA educational
department.
“But in addition, they
learn how to treat the refugee pupils, he adds.
“Normally, we also
provide special courses for the parents so they will know how to
talk to
[their kids], how to
deal with their problems.”
Such attention to detail
may account for some of the bonds between UNRWA teachers and
their students.”
“The teachers don’t act
like teachers-instead, they make the students feel like they’re part
of a big family,” says
Ghawen.
“For me, my teacher is
the role model I have in front of my eyes,” says Iman, a student at
the
Baqaa school for girls.
“She is also a refugee and she is someone, she has a career…I
want to be like her.”
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