Leaving No One Behind: EMIS as a Path to Inclusive Education in Jordan

In today’s digital world, data is crucial for decision-making and policy development. The integration of refugee data into Jordan’s Education Management Information System (EMIS) is helping improve equal access to quality education for all students. This initiative, supported by UNESCO and funded by the European Union through the “Technical Assistance to Support Jordan’s Ministry of Education’s EMIS Platform for Enhanced Evidence-Based Decision Making” project, ensures that refugees are accessing and learning in the national education system. 

Jordan currently hosts over 620,000 refugees registered with UNHCR[1]. Previously, registering refugee children in Jordanian schools required multiple documents, including a UNHCR Asylum Seeker Certificate, a UNHCR refugee certificate, a passport, a birth certificate, and either a Ministry of Interior (MoI) card for Syrians or another form of identification, such as an ID card or the number provided by border authorities on the passport. Parents often had to visit schools and administrative offices repeatedly, delaying enrollment. Additionally, school administrators manually verified whether a non-Jordanian student was a refugee by checking their UNHCR Asylum Seeker Certificate each year, consuming valuable time and resources.

Amira, a Somali refugee who arrived in Jordan in 2013, and Bar’a, an Iraqi refugee living in Jordan since 2012, both faced challenges in enrolling their children in school. Amira had to submit various documents, including Asylum Seeker Certificate, a passport, and a personal identification number—such as the number issued by border authorities on the passport— every year, making the process stressful and time-consuming, Now, with the alignment between EMIS and UNHCR database, all she needs is her UNHCR asylum seeker certificate for school enrollment.  Similarly, Bara’a previously had to renew her son’s asylum seeker certificate, annually, visiting both UNHCR and the school for verification. With EMIS’s automated validation process, her son’s status is verified electronically in seconds, eliminating the risk of lost documents and saving time.

The updates to Jordan’s EMIS platform simplify the verification of the protection status of the refugee automating the process. Instead of requiring parents to submit multiple documents, EMIS instantly validates the necessary information, reducing administrative burdens and allowing for faster student registration. Ensuring a valid Asylum Seeker Certificate number. Remains essential, as it serves as proof of refugee status and enables students to be exempted from school fees.

This automation ensures that refugee students can be enrolled in school promptly, avoiding delays and disruptions in their education. It also frees up teachers to focus on their primary task—teaching.

Beyond efficiency,  EMIS enhances coordination between the Ministry of Education, UNHCR, and relevant partners, ensuring educational resources target the most vulnerable students 

It provides policymakers with reliable data to better understand refugee students’ needs, track their educational progress,  and address learning gaps, ensuring they receive the necessary support to succeed academically. 

By minimizing data entry errors and improving inter-agency coordination, this initiative reinforces Jordan’s leadership and commitment to inclusive education. Few refugee-hosting countries have effectively disaggregated basic education data by protection status in their national EMIS. Jordan is leading the way, offering valuable insights for other countries seeking to replicate these efforts.  

Through the integration of refugee data into EMIS, Jordan is making important strides toward achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4: ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education for all. This collaboration and commitment to innovation demonstrate how data-driven solutions can create a future where every child has the opportunity to learn and thrive—without delay. 

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“The Technical assistance to support Jordan’s Ministry of Education’s EMIS platform for enhanced evidence-based decision making” was jointly designed with the MoE, UNESCO and the European Union in 2022 to support the MoE’s strengthening of its enabiling environment for OpenEMIS, through the operationalization of its EMIS Policy, while also supporting the MoE to migrate their EMIS towards a sustainable and robust hosting solution. In addition, enhancements to Jordan’s EMIS were done to improve data quality, accuracy and utilization, including enhanced data on refugees.