Improving Access to Primary Education for Out of School Children in Iran

June 10, 2021

First partnering in 2013, EAC and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) have been creating education opportunities for some of the most marginalised out of school children in the world. The current EAC-NRC Improving Access to Primary Education for OOSC in Iran project is seeking to reach vulnerable Iranian and Afghan refugee children struggling to realise their right to quality primary education.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee since 1946. When the organisation started its relief efforts after World War II, humanitarian needs were critical. They still are. NRC works to protect people and support them as they build a new future. Specifically, it provides camp management, food assistance, clean water, shelter, legal aid and education. To that end and concerning education, the organisation promotes and supports the inclusion of IDP and refugee children and youth into formal education systems, so they can benefit from an accredited education that allows them to progress through all levels of the education system.

Over three years, EAC and NRC aim to reach 24,900 Iranian and refugee children (5,754 and 19,146 respectively) in the provinces of Hormozgan, Kerman, Khorasan-Razavi, Semnan, Sistan and Baluchistan, and Tehran through the Improving Access to Primary Education for OOSC in Iran project. This project intends to reach Iranian and refugee children who do not have access to a school due to infrastructural, geographic location, lack of refugee status in Iran (documentation), poverty related and gender related barriers. The project builds and equips new schools and classrooms; promotes social cohesion amongst disparate elements in target communities through parent-teacher associations (PTAs); provides cash assistance to needy families; and offers accelerated-education programming to overage children, so they can catch up to the appropriate level and enter formal education or obtain a primary-level education certificate.

The Improving Access project seeks to achieve three principal outcomes: 1) Increased OOSC access to education services; 2) Improved education quality for OOSC and enabling environments in new education facilities; and 3) Strengthened school-related human resource capital and support to PTAs.

Furthermore, the project will construct new schools, wherein accelerated education programmes (AEPs) and school readiness programmes (SRPs) will be implemented to support children whose age and educational level do not correspond.

For more information about this EAC Implementing Partner, please visit the NRC website.