Schools in Syria rise from the rubble
2017-01-31
© UNICEF/UN051529/Al-Issa
As the intensity of violence decreases, children head back to school with UNICEF support
© UNICEF/ Syria 2016/ Khudr Al- Issa Seedra, 6 and her sister Baraa outside their school in Sakhoor neighbourhood on the first day of the second semester. Kheir eddine Al- Asadi is one of 23 schools that reopened on Sunday in the eastern parts of Aleppo.
DAMASCUS/AMMAN/HONG KONG, 31 January 2017 - In the past weeks, UNICEF has supported the re-opening of 23 primary schools in the eastern parts of Aleppo city, allowing nearly 6,500 children to return to school.
UNICEF has provided school supplies, developed an accelerated learning programme and trained teachers to help displaced children catch up on the months and years of education they have missed. Ten prefaicated classrooms were also set up.
An urgent awareness-raising programme has been rolled out to inform children and families about the dangers of unexploded remnants of war. So far the programme has reached 50,000 children. Psychosocial support activities have been provided to 35,000 children in shelters and other locations, to help them recover from the horrors they lived through.
UNICEF provided “schools in a box” and recreational kits to 90,000 children in Idlib and west rural Aleppo. UNICEF-supported professional development courses benefitted 280 teachers.
“Getting children back to learning is one of our key priorities,” said Hanaa Singer, UNICEF Representative in Syria. “School provides children with a much needed sense of routine, and offers a place to learn, play, heal and reconnect with their childhood.”
There is much more work to be done. An estimated 1.7 million children in Syria are currently out of school.