AMMAN — Jordan needs hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to cope with the mounting number of Syrian refugees, Social Development Minister Reem Abu Hassan said in Paris on Thursday, Sept. 12.

There were already more than one million Syrian refugees in Jordan and health and education services were absolutely stretched, Abu Hassan told AFP.

Zaatari refugee camp in Mafraq, Jordan houses about 150,000 Syrians

The Jordanian government puts the number of refugees at around 580,000 but says the number of Syrians living in the country is about 1.2 million.

Abu Hassan said that the humanitarian crisis in Jordan could spark the animosity of locals, who have been, until now, welcoming.

“Local communities are… actually supporting Syrian refugees but there might come a time when they could suffer from frustration and we don’t want to reach that level,” she said on the sidelines of a meeting of Euro-Mediterranean countries.

“I think we need around $300 million annually to support the health sector and $800 million for the education sector,” Abu Hassan said.

The United Nations agency for children recently said that only one third of the some 150,000 Syrian school-aged children in Jordan were getting an education.

Abu Hassan said the refugees were spread all over and not bunched in the massive Zaatari refugee camp as widely perceived internationally.

Many schools were doing double shifts, while the size of the classes in schools in the affected areas had swelled from 25-30 students to around 60 students, she said.