Opportunities and Challenges to Support Out-of-school Children and Youth through Accelerated Learning Programmes: Case Study of Jordan

Under the Accelerating Change for Children’s and Youths’ Education through Systems Strengthening (ACCESS) research project—led by the University of Auckland in partnership with the AEWG and funded by Dubai Cares under E-Cubed—this report presents findings from the first phase of research in Jordan. Key questions this phase of the research sought to explore are:

1. To what extent does political commitment, capacity and will for institutionalising and integrating alternative and/or nonformal education (NFE) interventions such as AEPs exist within the national education system at present?
2. Where are there current levers and opportunities for the AEWG to lead and/or support systematic change which would better promote increased access to AEPs for learners who need it?

Based on an extensive review of data and documentation from existing AE and NFE programming in the country, a thorough review of national education policies and legislative frameworks, and interviews with key informants, key findings include:

• Estimates of the number and rates of out-of-school children and youth vary widely by source and are unreliable. However, the data consistently show that the majority of out-of-school children and youth are Syrian and other non-nationals, and large numbers of students are at risk of dropping out due to being over-age.

• The Drop Out Programme (DOP) and Catch Up Programme (CUP) accelerate learning and provide opportunities to return to formal education. Starting 2022, funding for both programmes will be directly to MOE through a multidonor initiative with MOE both implementing and regulating the programmes under the Accelerating Access Initiative (AAI).

• Despite commitment from the MOE, both programmes only reach a small fraction of the out-of-school population and face other challenges to accessibility and quality due to challenges with funding, fragmentation, bureaucracy, information needs, and administrative challenges, as well as other social, political and economic factors such as perceived returns on education.

• Under AAI, all CUP and DOP centres will be transitioned from current implementers to the MOE. MOE will have full ownership of the programmes—operational, financial, and administrative. AAI presents opportunities for change for the DOP and CUP to address some of the limitations described above.

A think piece synthesis on some of the key findings from across the five countries researched in Phase 1 is available here.