Context
The negative impact of the crisis in Syria on the protection and well-being of internally displaced, returnee, and refugee children is significant. Access to and quality of education is severely limited across the country, with many schools destroyed and a severe shortage of teachers. The damage to schools has resulted in an acute need for additional learning spaces throughout the country for children from the refugee, internally displaced, returnee and host communities.
Accelerated learning programmes (remedial, catch-up, summer classes)
The accelerated learning programme (ALP) supports refugee, internally displaced and returnee children preparing for their mid-year and final exams. The ALP also supports out-of-school children with a view to re-enroll them into the formal education system. In the third quarter of 2022, 25,349 children attended accelerated education programs.
UNHCR provides remedial classes and facilitates homework cafés for children in UNHCR’s community centres. In the third quarter of 2022, 23,775 children attended remedial, catch-up and summer classes assisting them to catch up on missed classes and to re-enter school.
Additionally, 1,574 children attended homework café activities. The homework café activities usually take place during the school year, and therefore the number of reached children has decreased in comparison with the second quarter.
Education cash grants
Education cash grants for refugee children aim at safeguarding refugee children’s right to education and encouraging refugee parents to send and keep their children at school by supporting families to cover the different types of school expenses (school uniforms, stationery, textbooks and other expenses). The grants are paid through the cash-over-the-counter modality once school enrolment has been verified.
In September 2022, UNHCR started the verification exercise for the education cash grant in all its seven field offices. Certificates of enrolment have been verified in respect to 1,620 refugee students between 5 and 18 years of age
Capacity-building
In 2022, UNHCR and its partners provided capacity-building for teachers and social counsellors of the Ministry of Education. Trainings started in July through UNHCR’s partner Première Urgence Internationale (PUI). By the end of the third quarter, 1,700 personnel had participated in training on early childhood intervention, mental health and psychosocial support, self-care, active learning, learning difficulties, and applied behaviour analysis.
School Repair
UNHCR, as a member of the Education Sector, supports the repair of damaged schools to strengthen access to the formal education system complementing similar work of other agencies.
During the third quarter, UNHCR’s partners completed the repair of 6 public schools in rural Damascus and Aleppo. The rehabilitated schools were located in areas where displaced persons have returned. Over 4,200 students are expected to be enrolled in these schools. The repair activities were implemented through a gender-sensitive and disability-friendly approach to ensure that the protection needs of all children, including those with disabilities, are responded to and all children have an equal access to the school premises and WASH facilities.
National exam support
As part of the support provided by the humanitarian agencies participating in the Education Sector to the Ministry of Education during the national exam period, and to ensure that a protective environment is provided for students traveling to areas under the control of the Government (including for those coming from Lebanon) to sit the final exams of grades 9 and 12, UNHCR through its partners provided remedial sessions and stationery kits to around 942 students in Aleppo, Deir-ez-Zor and Rural Damascus governorates during the second quarter of 2022. Moreover, 5,596 students, who took the national exams in May and June 2022, received legal counselling through UNHCR partners’ lawyers, primarily with respect to personal documentation. Out of these students, 3,535 received identity and other personal documentation required to take the exams. In addition, UNHCR supported students and their families with other types of documentation such as family booklets. UNHCR also provided transportation support to students in Aleppo, Ar-Raqqa, Hama and Rural Damascus governorates to reach their examination centres. Furthermore, UNHCR distributed core relief items including blankets, mattresses, pillows and fans to 10,445 students in Aleppo, Ar-Raqqa,
Deir-ez-Zor and Rural Damascus governorates
Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees