Save the Children reports on disastrous state of schools in Syria

FOUR years on from the start of a brutal civil war, nearly three million children in Syria don’t receive an education, with consequences that will follow them for the rest of their lives. 

 A Syrian Kurdish girl in Kobane which has been destroyed in a battle between Kurdish forces and the Islamic

That’s according to a new report by charity group Save the Children which shows literacy rates in the country used to hover around 95 per cent for 15-24 years olds.


However the bloody infighting has had a particularly strong impact on its youngest residents and now school enrolment rates are the lowest in the world with 2.8 million children missing out on a basic eduction.

Save the Children estimates one quarter of the schools across the country have been closed. 

 

In the city of Aleppo, which is under Islamic State control, just six per cent of children go to school. Across the country between 5000 and 14,000 schools have been attacked and basic education rates have fallen from 100 per cent to 50 per cent, according to the charity.
“There has never been a more dangerous time for Syrian children to try to get an education,” the report states.

“At least a quarter of schools have been damaged, destroyed, used for military purposes or occupied by displaced people. Others are deserted as parents keep their children at home and out of school for fear of bombings and arbitrary attacks.”

Kobane has been one of the major battlegrounds, forcing thousands of refugees to flee. 

 

Even leaving the country is no solution, with half of all refugee children not gaining any form of education whatsoever. In neighbouring Lebanon this can reach up to 78 per cent.

The long term impact is expected to be severe, knocking 5.4 per cent off the country’s overall GDP and costing people individually. Save the Children estimates those who don’t finish primary school will earn 30 per cent less than those who finish high school and 60 per cent less than those who went to university.

The charity is now calling on donors to help Syria’s children get back on track by prioritising their needs and developing a strategy to ensure a generation of children is not lost.

A boy with his brother who are likely to be among those who don’t receive a basic education.