AMMAN - As thousands of Iraqi students continue to register in public schools, a senior UN official estimates that 250,000 school-age children are residing in the Kingdom.

Even with the government’s ambitious effort to absorb tens of thousands of additional students this scholastic year, many others could remain out of school.

To encourage as many as possible to benefit from the state educational system, Iraqi children have been given up until mid-September for registration for the 2007-08 scholastic year by the Ministry of Education, according to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

UNHCR senior public information officer, Astrid van Genderen Stort, said: “It is in my very rough estimate that there are currently around 250,000 school-age children living in Jordan. It will remain an estimate since there is so much movement, and little official registration.”

But a UNHCR press statement released on Monday estimates a much higher figure of 375,000 as the number of children on Jordanian soil.

The statement said that Jordan hosts an estimated 750,000 Iraqis. “Most have fled violence in their country since 2003 and about half are believed to be children,” according to the statement.

Stort, who is based in Geneva, told The Jordan Times in a telephone interview that it would be near impossible to accommodate all Iraqi children into schools at once.

“The government’s new open-door policy is very generous and they have proved amazing flexibility by extending the Iraqi registration date to September 15,” she said.

The UN official added that international organisation and the Ministry of Education estimate around 50,000 new students will enrol this year and that this month the government released a figure to the UN of 18,000-19,000 students already in public and private schools.

“This registration is initial, to accommodate all of around 250,000 students it would be an enormous job, the Jordanian school system would not be able to cope,” Stort said.

The humanitarian decision, which will come at a heavy cost to the government, has yet to receive specific pledges from the international community since the decision was made earlier this month.

“We are so far talking about $50 million in government subsidy if around 50,000 students enrol. There are only discussions about international pledges, but there have been no dates set,” Education Ministry Spokesperson Ahmad Shaheen told The Jordan Times.

But he did not give a specific number of Iraqi students joining public schools to date.

“Although the UN would like to see as many children benefit from this decision as possible, it is difficult to add children in the middle of the year. Some may be coming in at a later stage,” Stort said.

She pointed out that many Iraqi families will not enrol their students in school even if it is free. These include families who have overstayed their visas and live in fear that they will be caught and sent back to Iraq.

“Many parents have their children working… Even if it is illegal they feel they have no choice to keep them out of school since it is their only source of income,” the UNHCR information officer said.

She stressed that there are still many issues that still need to be sorted out such as building additional schools, providing transportation, paying additional salaries, more double shifts and training teachers how to deal with potentially traumatised children.

“Some of these children have been out of school for a couple of years and have witnessed extreme violence” back in their homeland. This might reflect on their behaviour in school, Stort said.

On Monday, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees repeated his calls for international support for Jordan while lauding the government’s decision to give Iraqi children on Jordanian soil access to schools.

The UNHCR and UNICEF issued an appeal for $129 million to fund education for Iraqi students in the region.

the UNHCR assistance to Jordan’s education sector will focus on the expansion of educational infrastructure, reintegration of school dropouts through community mobilisation - particularly for girls and adolescents - and support for poor and vulnerable families, according to the UN.

“From the $129 million we have not received any money in the account, but we have received a very positive response. We hope to be seeing some funds within the next couple of weeks… because it is extremely important that we act now and fast,” Stort said.