Courtesy of Karen Kasmauski for National Geographic
Improving access to education for displaced and refugee children from Syria is a high priority for Malala Fund.
Syria's crisis is one of the world’s most acute humanitarian emergencies. Improving access to education for displaced and refugee children from Syria is a high priority for the Malala Fund.
Syrian children have lost so much over the last five years — family, friends, homes, security and everyday routines so easily taken for granted before the conflict began. Many have lost their schools.
Before the crisis, 12 years of education was provided for free, nearly all primary-aged Syrian children were in school and two-thirds of 12-17 year-olds were enrolled in secondary school. Today, 2.1 million Syrian children are out of school. 1.4 million school aged Syrian refugee children are living in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt; nearly 700,000 of these children are not in school, falling further behind each year they cannot go to class.
Child labour and child marriage have increased as Syrian families struggle to make ends meet and provide their daughters with the security the war has taken from them. Girls who previously enjoyed an education and dreamed of bright futures are kept away from school. Despite this, Syrian children have not lost hope.
They hope for peace, for their futures and for their country. They refuse to be a generation lost, forgotten or feared. Five years into the conflict, they stand ready to rebuild and reclaim the future for themselves and for Syria. We must stand with them.
Read the background paper here.
