Sustainable Education through Renewable Energy in the Governorates Affected by the Syrian Crisis

As Jordan strives to take its place as a modern country on the world map, education takes an even greater role in raising the future generation. A country with few natural resources, Jordan looks to its human resources as the key element for its success in the markets of the region, and the prosperity, health, and security of its people. The country envisions a population of responsible, self-confident, and innovative learners. The ability of the educational system to develop and nurture creativity and innovation among learners will be a cornerstone that contributes to the development of a knowledge economy in Jordan. Despite the very high enrollment rates and the availability of access to schools across the Kingdom, the quality of education remains uneven. The average achievement in urban areas is higher than that in the rural and more remote areas. One of the major challenges of the Ministry of Education is to provide the schools with the required budget to provide students with a safe and healthy learning environment conducive to maximum learning in all schools across the Kingdom. The schools in remote areas lack sufficient electricity to operate daily services such as providing efficient heating and cooling systems within the classrooms lighting the classrooms, connecting computers and online learning, in extreme temperatures and lack of sufficient financial resources to improve the schools’ environment. A further challenge is, the large influx of Syrian refugees to Jordan, since 2011 has increased the load on the Kingdom’s already limited resources. Jordan hosts 1.5 million Syrians, 655,365 are refugees . The country in general, and its northern communities in particular, have come under severe stress as institutions and services are overwhelmed with the increasing demands placed upon them by the growing population. Key drivers of tension between the hosting communities and the refugees at the micro-level are safeguarding livelihoods and competition for income-generating opportunities; the struggle to find adequate, affordable housing; and challenges in the education sector such as difficulty in accessing education and a deteriorating learning environment. These drivers of tension are also prevalent on the macro-level . Jordan’s generous provision of free access to public schools to Syrian children has also increased the pressure on primary schools in intake areas. This in turn poses challenges to ensuring a healthy learning environment, and has stoked inter-communal tension in some towns where Jordanians see Syrian refugees as increasing class sizes, and straining school resources. Some Jordanians who had enrolled their children in private schools but could not continue to send them for financial reasons reportedly found nearby public schools were full due to increased Syrian enrollment further compounding the social tension between the host communities and the Syrian refugees. The link between education and poverty is a complex yet highly interdependent issue where education can be a driving factor in pulling families out of the cycle of poverty. Providing education will reduce the risks of early marriage and military recruitment of children, stabilize economic futures by increasing earning potential, and ensure that today’s youth will be better equipped to confront their uncertain futures. Moreover, the Syrian crisis has exacerbated long-standing structural challenges in the energy sector in terms of supply, demand and management. Securing a sustainable energy pathway for Jordan is more critical today than ever. The Government of Jordan has made progress in this regard, through a National Energy Strategy, currently under implementation, and the adoption, in 2012, of the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Law, that provides incentives for sustainable energy solutions. A priority is to achieve local energy production, mainly by scaling-up renewable energy initiatives and improving energy efficiency across the board. This project aims to contribute to the overall efforts aiming at mitigating the impact of the Syrian crisis in line with the Jordan Response Plan (JRP) focusing on the Northern governorates (Mafraq, Ramtha, Irbid, and North of Balqa’a Governorates) that are most affected by the Syrian crisis. This will be achieved through the use of Renewable Energy (RE) and Energy Efficiency (EE) systems to reduce the growing energy demands improve the learning environment in schools, increase enrollment and retention of Jordanian and Syrian students, improving the livelihood of surrounding communities and promote the social cohesion at the same time.