Primary school enrollment for children between 6 and 11 years of age in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan increased from 87 per cent in 1991 to 97.1 per cent in 2015. This progress has been made through the strong efforts by the Government of Jordan to make primary education free and compulsory for all. In accordance with Provisional Education Act No. 27 (1998) primary education is now free and compulsory for all Jordanians between 6 and 16 years of age. The Ministry of Education (MOE) is responsible for the implementation of free and compulsory primary education and guarantees education for all children through a network of 5,526 schools (in 2004) throughout the country out of which 70 per cent were administered by the MOE in 2004, 1 per cent by other governmental institutions, 9 per cent by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency and 19 per cent by the private sector.
Compulsory primary education in Jordan is divided into two years of non-compulsory childhood education before 6 years of age, followed by ten years of compulsory free basic education up to 16 years of age. Education becomes non-compulsory after 16 years of age, but remains free throughout secondary school. In 1990 the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan complimented compulsory primary education with nutrition programmes, which include access to free meals at school canteens in order to effectively address nutritional requirements in remote and poor areas. Displaced Iraqi children were also provided with free access to public education from 2010 to 2012, regardless of their parents' residential status. In 2011, 27,000 Iraqi children were enrolled in schools across the country. In 2010 91 per cent of boys and girls in Jordan were enrolled in primary school.
Jordan’s free and compulsory primary education system upholds the rights of the child and ensuring access to education for all children as a fundamental right and is guaranteed by the constitution under articles 6 and 20. Jordan’s universal education system represents an important investment in Jordan’s next generation and creates an important part of a national social protection floor.
Further Reading:
Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation and United Nations in Jordan (2010). Keeping the Promise and Achieving Apirations: Second National Millenium Development Goals Report Jordan 2010. Accessed from http://www.mop.gov.jo/echobusv3.0/SystemAssets/pdf/Reports/second%20national.pdf on December 2016.