by Brigid Rowlings, LHI Communications Director
Many Syrian students are able to attend school in Jordan thanks to these innovative modular classrooms. Don’t you love seeing all the amazing work on the walls? Oh, and the LHI logos aren’t to shabby either!
According to the UNHCR, almost half (48%) of refugee kids miss out on school. Sometimes, there's no school nearby, fees are too high, or the host country won't allow them in public schools.
In the case of Syrian refugees living in Jordan, a major challenge is space. Due to the massive influx of Syrian families into Jordan, schools started holding two shifts a day to accommodate both local and also Syrian children. And there still isn’t enough room.
One solution LHI has been quietly piloting over the last couple of years is providing modular classrooms complete with electrical connections, furniture, and bathrooms right on public school campuses. From there, Jordan’s Ministry of Education pays teacher salaries and takes care of maintenance. Just one classroom can accommodate 40 children using the two-shift-a-day model. Best of all, it only takes $13,000 to install each classroom. That’s just $65 per child over a 5 year period!
Now that we’ve installed five mobile classrooms in Jordan and have seen the tremendous impact they’ve had, we are ready to get louder about this program. We need your help. We are running our back-to-school fundraiser focused on getting Syrian children in Jordan back to school!
As you are perhaps getting your own children ready for a new school year, or watching the neighborhood kids wait for the bus, why not take a moment to help Syrian children get back to school as well? A donation of any size will help a child to learn, grow, and thrive. If you are on Facebook, you can visit our Facebook fundraiser page by clicking here. Or, you can visit our website to make a donation by clicking here.
About me: I was a secondary school teacher in high-needs public schools in the metro-Boston area for almost 20 years. In that time, I worked with incredible students, many of whom were facing hardships including poverty, homelessness, food insecurity, immigration concerns, and learning disabilities. I believe that education is a basic human right. My greatest wish is for internally displaced or refugee children to get the education they deserve.