Amman,The US Assistant Secretary of State Allen Sauerbrey has announced that her country would be contributing $30 million to provide educational opportunities for Iraqi children in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

"It gives me great pleasure to be able to announce that the United States is contributing $30 million to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) Joint Appeal to provide Educational Opportunities for Iraqi Children in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt," Sauerbrey said at a press conference in the Jordanian capital Amman.

"The United States believes the response to the needs of displaced Iraqis is best addressed through a multilateral effort, coordinated by organizations capable of operating in all affected countries and attracting resources from a broad range of potential donors," she added.

Sauerbrey praised Jordan as "a model partner in this international humanitarian effort."

"I want to take this opportunity to commend the government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for its decision to permit all Iraqi children in Jordan access to Jordanian public schools with the opening just last week of the fall semester," she said.

Jordanian Education Minister Khalid Touqan said it was expected that Jordanian public schools would admit about 40,000 Iraqi children this year.

The UNHCR estimates that several hundred thousand school-age Iraqi children are among about two million Iraqi refugees now living in Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

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