Since the start of the Syrian crisis–a crisis that has only gotten worse with progression–over 2.8 million Syrians have registered with the United Nations High Commission of Refugees.
The civil war in Syria began in 2011 as a result of the Arab Spring when protesters were arrested for displaying opposition to their president, Bashar Al-Assad. The upheaval over President Assad’s oppressive regime resulted with the death of over 100,000 Syrians and a country of continually oppressed peoples; many since have decided that the violence in their nation was far too much to bear.
Where do they go?
Lebanon currently hosts the greatest population of refugee Syrians, but refugees are also located in Jordan, Turkey, and Egypt.
More than half of these refugees are under the age of seventeen. These children are forced out of their home countries and wiped off of the streets they grew up on, off of the streets they used to play in. Now, they suffer in foreign countries where they don’t speak the same language as their peers and are harassed for being foreign.
An effort in Lebanon, sponsored by UNICEF, to make education attainable has instilled hope into the hopeless by providing children with a safe and fun place to be.
But as simple as it may seem, education is one of the most difficult things for refugee children to attain. According to UNICEF, less than twenty-five percent of Syrian children in Lebanon are enrolled in public school. Some of the kids haven’t been in school for years, subjecting them to a higher risk of abuse and exploitation as well as leaving little hope for the future.
Syrian refugees are welcome in Lebanese schools, but it is difficult for refugee families to pay the transportation fees involved with public education.
Syrian families are also disheartened and afraid of the dangers of sending their children off. Other children would rather do agricultural work and stay with their families than getting an education that is not always guaranteed.
For the children, school is a central part of their lives, and it helps them forget the traumas they have endured as result of the Syrian crisis. However, since most public schools in Lebanon have an English and French curriculum, it is discouraging for the Arab-speaking children to go to school.
UNICEF supports the enrolled Syrian refugees by providing vouchers for things like school supplies and bus rides, increasing school capacities, and providing remedial language classes for the refugees. As for children that cannot attend public school, UNICEF has brought school to the refugees. The informal education provided by the humanitarian project creates an environment that gives psychological and social support for the children.
For these children, education isn’t something they take for granted; it isn’t something made to prepare them for college or for the future; it is a means for psycho-social balance as well as a haven of peace and happiness in the midst of chaos and pain.
