Refugee schooling a priority, says Peter Dutton after Jordan trip

Peter Dutton is to lobby for increased aid funding to help educate children spending years in refugee camps.

A refugee girl comes out to greet Peter Dutton during his visit to the Zaatari camp in Jordan. Picture: Ben Stevens

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton is to lobby for increased aid funding to help educate children spending years in refugee camps.

Mr Dutton was clearly affected by what he saw during his two-day visit to Jordan. His trip took in the world’s second-largest refugee camp, the Zaatari camp, near the Syrian border, which is home to large numbers of children who have no access to schooling.

Australia recently increased funding for Syrian refugees by $44 million, but Mr Dutton will argue more is needed to provide education, saying it is “a crucial aspect of a refugee’s future’’ and a key to their family’s wellbeing.

About 40,000 of the Zaatari camp’s 80,000 residents are children but more than a third, particularly teenage boys, do not have any education, partly due to violence in the camp’s nine schools.

Mina Abdullah Rashid, 14, told The Australian he preferred to work in a mixed-goods shop in the camp’s main street, Champs Elysee, rather than go to school.

Mr Dutton said he was surprised to discover most refugee families did not want to move to Australia or any other country, instead insisting on return­ing at some point to Syria. “When I speak to a lot of ­people, they want to return to Syria,’’ he said.

“I was surprised by that because I thought people would says to themselves, ‘it’s going to be a long time before I can return, there are other opportunities for me in third countries’, and they would be happy to look forward and not back. But if people want to ... return to Syria then they will be living in camps for a long time ... and we need to make sure we can support the Jordanians, the UNHCR and the agencies in providing whatever continuing education prog­rams we can.’’

The Australian interviewed several families in the camp and could find only one that was interested in relocating to Australia. Nearly all thought Australia was too far away and they didn’t have any family connections to help ease their transition.

Mr Dutton said that establishing an Australian-style school at the camp might replicate some of the programs already established and it might be more prudent to offer assistance to existing ­programs. “But there is a lot of expertise within the Australian education system and Australian health system that would have capacity to provide assistance, and whether we can leverage off that skill base or just provide financial support to enhance existing services is something we could consider,’’ he said.

“It’s the key to their future. If they are coming to Australia or going elsewhere, in Europe or Asia, it is going to be crucial to the future of that family.’’

He said that if Australia quadrupled its refugee intake, it would make little difference to the global refugee problem. The UN says 60 million people are displaced.