Middle East schools face major budget shortfalls amid Syrian refugee crisis

Syrian refugee children listen to their teacher inside a tent that has been turned into a makeshift school, in a Syrian refugee camp in the eastern town of Kab Elias, Lebanon, on January 27, 2016. Bilal Hussein, File/AP Photo

BEIRUT // Schools in the Middle East are facing major budget shortfalls ahead of the new academic year, leaving some 1 million Syrian refugee children out of education, according to a report published by Theirworld, an international children’s charity.

The five-year-long Syrian war has placed huge strain on the region’s school systems, forcing neighbouring countries to depend on multibillion dollar grants from donor nations to meet education needs.

There are 2.5 million Syrian children registered as refugees with the United Nations, although many more are believed to be unregistered. Most live in neighbouring Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan as they wait for an opportunity to return home.

In February, the international community pledged US$1.4 billion (Dh5.1bn) in school funding for host nations at a London donor conference but less than $400 million of that has been fulfilled, Theirworld estimates. That leaves a funding gap of $1 billion.

Kevin Watkins, the author of the report, which was published late on Tuesday, said donors had “broken their promises”.

In Lebanon, more than half of the nearly 500,000 school-age Syrian refugee children receive no formal education, according to Human Rights Watch, despite reforms allowing overburdened public schools to run two shifts a day.

Many Syrian refugee families have no choice but to put their children to work to help meet basic expenses in a country with few social protections and tight movement restrictions. Children who do go to school face difficulties with new curriculums, and many suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or other psychosocial problems.

“The schools accept Syrian refugees, but the children don’t adapt. They register but then they drop out,” said Najah Kherallah Jomaa, a refugee from the Syrian city of Aleppo living in a settlement in the Lebanese town of Bar Elias.

The report by Theirworld warns of a “lost generation” of Syrians if determined steps are not taken to ensure school access for all.

* Associated Press