U.S. to boost school aid to nations caring for Iraqi kids

AMMAN, Jordan — The top U.S. envoy on refugees announced Tuesday that the United States will increase its support to countries hosting Iraqi refugees with a $30 million grant for education.

Assistant Secretary of State Ellen Sauerbrey said the money will help pay for schooling in countries like Jordan, where tens of thousands of young Iraqis recently began attending government schools.

Jordan and Syria host the largest percentage of the more than 2 million Iraqis who have been displaced by the war and the countries have complained of the increasing burden on their health and education systems. Smaller numbers of Iraqis have fled to Lebanon, Egypt and Turkey.

"I am convinced that educating Iraqi children is one of the most critical ingredients for a peaceful and prosperous Iraq and a stable region," Sauerbrey said while visiting a girls school in Amman where 145 Iraqis began classes this month.

The grant will go toward a recent joint appeal by the U.N. refugee agency and UNICEF for international donors to provide $129 million that would pay for educating 155,000 Iraqi children in Jordan, Syria, Egypt and Lebanon.

Sauerbrey told reporters the United States expected to allow in some 2,000 Iraqi refugees by the end of September but ruled out taking in large numbers.