Reuters AlertNet Full site
Homepage | Newsdesk | NGO Latest | Crisis briefings | Country profiles | MediaWatch | Jobs | Alerting | Login

NEWSDESK

JORDAN: Daily snacks tempt children back to school
09 Dec 2008 21:22:37 GMT
 Source: IRIN

Background

•  Israeli-Palestinian conflict

•  Children

MORE >>
AMMAN, 9 December 2008 (IRIN) - A nutrition programme run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNWRA) in camps across Jordan is encouraging more students to stay in school.

Teachers had become accustomed to seeing children ditch classes, under pressure to help parents at home or work to help the family finances.

The midmorning snack provided by UNWRA throughout Jordan since the beginning of the school year has proved successful in tempting students to stay in class, according to teachers and education officials.

Each child receives either a banana or an apple and a biscuit. Teachers said many students spent the day without a proper meal, if any.

"Ever since the initiative was implemented a few weeks ago, the desire of students to attend classes has increased. We rarely see absenteeism and excitement among many is apparent," said Aheda Saaid, headmaster of Baqaa elementary school.

"Students were very happy to receive this food support as our resources are small in the school and we cannot afford to offer such help," Saaid told IRIN.

The programme, funded by the government, seeks not only to attract children back into school but also to improve their performance and teachers said they could already see a difference.

"Children pay more attention to classes as they have something to wait for, apart from homework and sports," she said.

The school nutrition programme was launched in government schools by King Abdullah in late 1999 in an attempt to provide children from impoverished backgrounds with food to help them perform better.

With the economic situation in refugee camps deteriorating, the programme has been extended to include 42,000 schoolchildren in Jordan's 13 camps.

Teachers insist the supplement is not meant as a substitute to main meals, but a booster to help the child function during the six hours of class a day.

But many pupils say the snack is their only food during the day, with only one meal in the evening.

Jordan is home to 1.9 million officially registered refugees, who arrived after the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948 and 1967.

mbh/at/mw

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org


AlertNet news is provided by
Email this article       Send comments

Topics

•  Children

•  Refugees & displacement

MORE >>

Emergencies

•  Israeli-Palestinian conflict

MORE >>

NGO latest

•  New Guidance on Safe Cooking Fuel for Households in Humanitarian Settings Secures International Endorsement
Women's Commission - USA

•  Forbes recognizes Children International as a top Charity
Children Intl - USA

•  Minova: Malteser International extends its aid in eastern DR Congo Terrible experience must be processed
Malteser International - Germany

•  Democratic Republic of the Congo: despite letup in fighting, many needs remain
ICRC - Switzerland

•  Democratic Republic of the Congo: Red Cross launches campaign to reunite conflict-dispersed families
ICRC - Switzerland

MORE >>

Latest news

•  AFGHANISTAN: Villagers bombed in August still living with relatives

•  JORDAN: Daily snacks tempt children back to school

•  U.N. rights council urges Israel to take 99 steps

•  MAURITANIA: Child marriage tradition turns into trafficking

•  GLOBAL: More hungrier this year, maybe even more in 2009

MORE >>

IRIN news

Background information

Briefings
Israeli-Palestinian conflict - [Who works where]

Topics
Children Refugees & displacement
Statistics graphs
Human development index ranking (2005)
Chart for Human development index ranking
View more stats

Related articles

Breaking stories
 AFGHANISTAN: Villagers bombed in August still living with relatives (1 minute ago)

JORDAN: Daily snacks tempt children back to school (1 minute ago)

AlertNet insight
 MEDIAWATCH: Is an end to Sri Lanka's civil war in sight? (1 minute ago)

Aid agency news feed
 New Guidance on Safe Cooking Fuel for Households in Humanitarian Settings Secures International Endorsement (1 minute ago)

Blogs
 President’s Corner: Celebrating a Week Meant to Change the World (1 minute ago)

Maps
 MAP: Internal displacement in the Central African Republic (as of 26 Nov 2008) (1 minute ago)


Del.icio.us Del.icio.us  |   Digg Digg  |   NewsVine NewsVine  |   Reddit Reddit   
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-09T145550Z_01_AFR03_RTRIDSP_2_ZIMBABWE-CRISIS-CHOLERA_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/AFR03.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-09T134319Z_01_AFR02_RTRIDSP_2_ZIMBABWE_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/AFR02.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-07T131136Z_01_BAG402_RTRIDSP_2_IRAQ_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/BAG402.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-05T045353Z_01_PEK04_RTRIDSP_2_CHINA-QUAKE-TOLL_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/PEK04.htm
Thumb for /thefacts/imagerepository/RTRPICT/2008-12-05T035130Z_01_POY1136_RTRIDSP_2_INDIA-FLOODS_mainimage.jpg|/thenews/pictures/POY1136.htm

Children walk past a makeshift house at a slum in Hatcliffe, Harare December 9, 2008. Up to 60,000 people in Zimbabwe could be infected with cholera in the worst case if ...


More pictures | Galleries
Disclaimers |  Copyright |  Privacy |  Contact Us |  Feedback |  About Us |  RSS XML

Last updated:Tue Dec 9 21:22:47 2008