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News Release

Read more on how we are helping Iraqi
and Jordanian children, and watch an
accompanying video: "Ta'leem Iraqi and
Jordanian Tots Return to Kindergarten"

Save the Children US Applauds decision
to allow Iraqi children into Jordanian schools

The New York Times features displaced
Iraqis in Jordan

It's back-to-school time in many countries around the world. In few places will this day be more significant than in Jordan, where thousands of Iraqi children entered the classroom -- many for the first time in years.

Jordan hosts approximately 750,000 Iraqis who have fled the conflict in their country, according to the United Nations. It is estimated that up to half of those displaced by the violence in Iraq are children. This large increase in population has strained an already crowded school system. Yet the government of Jordan has announced that all school-age Iraqi children will have access to its public and community-based schools during the new academic year.

In Jordan, Save the Children is supporting community-based kindergartens and other early childhood education centers, and working to get more children into primary school and keeping them there. The agency is working across the region to assist the estimated 2.2 million Iraqis who have fled their country.

Focusing on education, Save the Children is providing access to educational services for Iraqi children and working to ensure that all children in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon have access to quality education and their nations meet their Millennium Development and Education for All goals.

Please contact the Save the Children US Media centre for more information:

Mike Kiernan (W) 001 202-261-4686 or (C) 001 202-460-0614

Kate Conradt (W) 001 202-261-4673 or (C) 001 202-294-9700

For more information about the Jordan programs, visit: www.savethechildren.org/countries/middle_east_eurasia/jordan.asp