In a week where the UK Government has been persuaded to do more to help unaccompanied refugee children in Europe, the World Communion of Reformed Churches has been reflecting on UNICEF’s analysis that 1 in 3 Syrian children have grown up knowing only crisis as the Syrian conflict has reached its 5 year point.
Their life has been shaped by violence, war, displacement and fear.
Half of Syrian children (2.8 million) do not have access to education and over 6,000 schools in Syria are closed due to damage caused by violence or to function as a refuge for families (UNICEF).
Malala Yousafzai, Global Education Activist, said: “$US 1.4 billion to educate Syria’s children is a number the world can afford. Losing this generation is a cost this world cannot.”
In this context, the National Evangelical Synod of Syria and Lebanon (NESSL) identified the need of providing a “normal” life to refugee children and applied for the WCRC’s Reformed Partnership Fund to set up schools serving refugee children in camps.
Despite a series of logistical challenges two schools were operating by the end of February with a third being planned, all connected to Christian churches but welcoming children of all religious backgrounds.
The children are taught Arabic, arithmetic, sciences and ethics. They are provided with books, stationary and a meal each day, as well as transportation by bus between their temporary homes and school.
Let’s not forget our generation of children – in Syria, in refugee camps, in Europe or around the world.
Read the full article by the World Communion of Reformed Churches here.
The photograph above is of Syrian refugee children in a Lebanese school classroom | by DFID