Addressing safety issues along the way to school: Qualitative findings from Jerash camp, Jordan

Despite the growing global interest in the safety of school children over the past decade, the safety of school routes in vulnerable populations, such as those in refugee camps, has not received enough attention from the global research community. Therefore, this qualitative study contributes to the limited literature on this issue by attempting to shed light on the safety challenges faced by schoolchildren aged 6–15 years old who travel independently inside refugee camps. Through a thematic analysis of the output of two focus group discussions involving refugee parents in Jerash Camp in Jordan, the study identifies key issues and threats that concern parents in refugee camps regarding the safety and security of their children when walking to school. The analysis of the FGDs yields three themes: (1) safety and security issues (2) factors influencing exposure to hazards; and (3) suggestions for safety improvement. It also generates sub-themes related to safety and security issues such as traffic collision, crime risk and animal attack. Other sub-themes that represent the factors associated with exposure to safety hazards were grouped into four categories: built environmental factors, socio-cultural and economic factors, demographic factors and behavioural factors. Suggestions for improving safety of school routes included three main sub-themes, these are: providing a free transport service to school, improving road infrastructure and pedestrian facilities; and providing adequate education to increase awareness of safety issues. This study highlights the critical level of safety and security inside refugee camps, and thus draws the attention of international organisations and policymakers and emphasizes the need for safety programmes intervention focusing on children in refugee camps. •Transportation safety for vulnerable communities, such as refugee camps, was emphasized in the Sustainable Development Goals.•The implementation of safe route to school programs in refugee camps still in its early stages.•Focus group discussions among parents of refugee children revealed the main safety issues face them on their way to school.•Several environmental, socio-economic, behavioral and demographic factors led to the emergence of these safety issues.