Importance of educating Syria's next generation
- By Rory Howard
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E-mail China.org.cn, February 6, 2016
February 3, 2016, a civil society conference with a focus on Syria was held in London ahead of the Supporting Syria & the Region Conference 2016. The conference brought together Syrian and international non-governmental organizations to discuss Syrian refugees' need for education, work, and safety.
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Norwegian Foreign Minister Borge Brende addresses civil society conference. [Photo/China.org.cn] |
The Supporting Syria &the Region conference will bring together world leaders to make pledges of the billions of dollars needed to help the Syrian humanitarian disaster, a situation that has grown out of nearly six years of conflict.
Ahead of the conference on Thursday, non-governmental organizations gathered in London to discuss what measures are needed to provide assistance to the Syrian people.
The war in Syria has displaced 13.5 million people in Syria and has led to nearly 4.5 million people fleeing to neighbouring countries. During this time, most Syrians within and outside of the country face unemployment, and nearly half of the children are without access to education.
There is widespread agreement that international governments need to make efforts to end the war in Syria through political and diplomatic dialogue; but there is an equally pressing need to avoid what many call a "lost generation."
The "lost generation" are the millions of children who have no access to education. This could lead to problems in Syria's future with an unskilled work force as a result of the war.
Speaking at the conference, Norwegian Minister for Foreign Affairs Borge Brende said "we have to secure that [Syrian] children will have an education so that, in the long term, they can go back and build their own country."
Marcell Shehwaro from Syria Civil Defence, a Syrian aid organization, said that education is a priority. "We want education because it is the right of every child and because humanity would be better when we have a generation that knows more." Ms Shehwaro also went on to say that only 20 percent of the teachers working in Syria Civil Defence schools have teaching backgrounds because many professional teachers have left Syria.
Speaking on wider issues of refugee employment in neighbouring countries Turkey, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan, and Egypt, UNHCR Regional Refugee Coordinator Amin Awad raised the matter of the increasing poverty of refugees.
"Studies and surveys with some … agencies like the World Bank show that 90 percent of the Syrian refugees in surrounding countries alone have exhausted their savings," Awad said. "They don't have access to jobs, they are accumulating debt, and livelihood is the only way to bring about dignity. But also, more importantly, [Syrians] use their own skills and training while they are in exile."
The Supporting Syria conference on February 4, 2016, will hopefully provide some solutions to Syrians' civil and humanitarian needs if governments can provide the US$9 billion needed to provide the Syrian people and refugees with aid.
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