VZCZCXRO1574
OO RUEHBC RUEHDA RUEHDE RUEHIHL RUEHKUK
DE RUEHAM #2502/01 1621441
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111441Z JUN 07
FM AMEMBASSY AMMAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9012
INFO RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 AMMAN 002502 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR NEA AND PRM 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREF IZ JO
SUBJECT: JORDAN,S MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND DONORS MAKE 
PLANS TO INCREASE EDUCATION OF IRAQIS 
 
REF: A. AMMAN 2458 
 
     ¶B. AMMAN 2341 
     ¶C. AMMAN 2178 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY:  The Ministry of Education and donors are 
developing plans and identifying resources to educate 
additional Iraqi schoolchildren in Jordan in time for the 
August 19 start date of the next school year.  UNICEF 
submitted an education strategy to the Minister of Education 
on June 7, and has nominated itself to lead the donor 
coordination process.  The GOJ confirmed to NGOs and the 
foreign embassy community that "residency will have no 
bearing on access to public services" further opening the 
doors to its public schools for Iraqi children.  END SUMMARY. 
 
DONORS MEETING ON EDUCATING IRAQIS 
---------------------------------- 
 
¶2.  (SBU) EmbOffs attended an education-related donor meeting 
with representatives from the donor community in Amman 
(UNICEF, UNHCR, JICA, CIDA, UNDP, and Save the Children) on 
June 7.  UNHCR Amman Representative Imran Riza reported the 
outcomes of a meeting convened earlier in the day under the 
auspices of Prince Rashid, Chairman of the Hashemite 
Charitable Organization and the Regional Human Security 
Center and attended by senior leadership of Ministries of 
Interior, Foreign Affairs, Education, Health, and Planning 
and International Cooperation. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) UNHCR and UNICEF reported that Iraqi access to 
education and health in Jordan were central themes of Prince 
Rashid's meeting.  UNHCR and UNICEF cited Bisher Khasawneh, 
Director of the Jordan Information Center as saying, 
"Residency will have no bearing on access to public 
services."  They also relayed their understanding that 
Norwegian NGO FAFO's findings on the Iraqi population may 
affect the GOJ's strategy of implementation, but not the 
basic tenet of allowing access to public services.  As 
Embassy has previously reported (ref C), the two UN 
organizations noted that the Interior Ministry is responsible 
for ensuring access. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Khasawneh later confirmed to poloff that GOJ policy 
is to grant access to public services - specifically 
education in Jordanian public schools and health care at 
public health facilities -- irrespective of residency. 
According to Khasawneh, this policy was laid out in a Royal 
Court directive issued several months ago. 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Riza urged donors to consider how their short term 
and humanitarian assistance programs mesh with Jordan's 
National Development plans.  He encouraged donors to frame 
their assistance packages as expediting their assistance to 
the overall infrastructure of the Jordanian educational 
system. 
 
¶6.  (SBU) UNICEF Amman Representative Anne Skatvedt reported 
to other donors on her June 7 briefing with Minister of 
Education Touqan and SecGen Dr. Tayseer al Nahar.  UNICEF 
presented the MOE with a concept paper outlining its strategy 
and possible short, medium, and long-term assistance measures 
in the education field.  UNICEF proposed the formation of an 
inter-ministerial steering committee to be chaired by MOE's 
SecGen and which would include several donor representatives, 
and the formation of a project office for implementation of 
three to five full-time staff members. 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Bilateral agencies, including CIDA and USAID, 
requested that UNICEF share this concept note to better 
coordinate resource decisions.  UNICEF agreed to share the 
note once the MOE officially adopts a strategy.  NOTE: Post 
notes that UNICEF concept document includes many of the ideas 
in the proposed USAID/PRM drafted educational proposals (Ref 
C). END NOTE. 
 
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION 
--------------------- 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Acting PolCouns and USAID Education Specialist met 
with MOE SecGen Nahar on June 9.  Nahar considered the 
question of access for Iraqi students a political decision, 
and is focusing on technical preparations to implement the 
final policy decision.  He reiterated the GOJ's objection to 
establishing a parallel educational system for Iraqis in 
Jordan.  He strongly preferred to not "double-shift" 
students.  However, in areas such as East Amman where 
students are already double-shifted, the MOE might consider 
temporarily using renting buildings or building 
pre-fabricated classrooms on existing school grounds. 
 
AMMAN 00002502  002 OF 002 
 
 
 
¶9.  (SBU) Nahar said his Ministry is willing to double-shift 
its classrooms, but not its teachers, estimating that the 
Ministry would need to hire 1,000 new teachers on annual 
contracts and would expect to be reimbursed by donors. 
 
¶10.  (SBU) The GOJ estimates that 42% of Iraqi school-age 
children living in Jordan are already currently enrolled in 
either public or private schools based on interviews 
conducted by Save the Children.  Extrapolating from this 
data, Dr. Nahar predicted that the GOJ will need to 
accommodate a total of 35,000 Iraqi students.  The ministry 
estimated per-pupil education costs for Iraqi students based 
on 14,000, 35,000 and 50,000 total students. 
 
Visit Amman's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/amman/ 
 
Hale