School for 4,000 Syrian Students Opens in Jordan Camp

Jordan on Sunday opened a Bahrain-funded school in the Zaatari refugee camp near the Syrian border that can take up to 4,000 students, a Jordanian official said.

Jordan's education ministry and the U.N. children's fund UNICEF jointly run the school, in which 3,400 Syrian refugees are currently enrolled and taught by Jordanian and Syrian teachers.

A $2-million (1.5-million euro) grant from Bahrain funded the project.

Meanwhile 62 trucks carrying aid from Saudi Arabia arrived in the Mafraq region -- 85 kilometers (53 miles) north of Amman, where the Zaatari camp is located, according to Petra news agency.

It is the sixth Saudi convoy to arrive in the country, Petra said.

Jordan says it has taken in 230,000 Syrian refugees, more than 125,000 of whom have registered with the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) since the Syrian conflict broke out in March last year. More than 40,000 people have been killed in the violence, according to activists.

Around 42,000 Syrians live in the Zaatari camp, and Amman has announced the setting up of two more camps in the north of the country.

The number of Syrian refugees registered in neighboring countries has nearly doubled since the beginning of September to more than 440,000, the U.N. refugee agency said on Friday.