UNRWA school children in Jordan go back to learning

AMMAN — Over 115,000 girls and boys went back to learning in the schools of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) in Jordan on Tuesday. 

Due to the health crisis, created by the COVID-19 pandemic, UNRWA schools are opening their doors to students in line with the health and safety regulations of the government of Jordan, according to a statement from the UN agency.

Along with health and safety measures, physical distancing — in the corridors, playgrounds and classrooms — is being implemented. With the limited resources of UNRWA, this can only be achieved through a blended education approach, where classes are split, with half the children learning at home and the other half in school, in rotation.

“I am very happy to attend the first day of school with UNRWA students,” said UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. 

“This is not just any ‘back to school’! This is back to learning, despite a global pandemic and a lot of uncertainty and several months of lockdown. But this a moment of celebration: Celebrating the perseverance of our students and of our teaching staff. They have never stopped believing in the power of education and have not left anyone behind, even during lockdowns and closures,” the statement quoted him as saying.

All schools in Jordan, including the ones that UNRWA runs, closed down early in the spring of 2020, in the middle of a school year, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.  

UNRWA, like the host government, moved to a distance learning approach, with students accessing education in multiple ways, including through TV learning channels and online platforms launched by the Jordanian Ministry of Education. 

The main objective was to keep uninterrupted access to education for Palestine refugee students, despite the challenges imposed by the pandemic, the statement said.

During the back to school ceremony held in the UNRWA Al Nuzha Elementary School for Girls in Amman, Lazzarini met with young students and had a discussion with Abeer Ihab, who is an elected member of the agency’s Student Parliament.

“We as UNRWA school parliamentarians have a responsibility towards our peers: We must raise awareness constantly about the need to respect health and safety measures at all times, inside the schools and in our communities, to be able to avoid contracting the virus,” said Abeer. 

To help the school parliamentarians do just this, UNRWA Human Rights Conflict Resolution and Tolerance (HRCRT) programme produced a video with age-appropriate guidance to help raise awareness amongst students.

The schoolchildren that the commissioner-general joined Tuesday as they went back to learning are part of over 534,000 girls and boys in 711 UNRWA-run schools in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, concluded the statement.