Schooling helps Syria’s refugee children maintain hope in the face of conflict

The EU must provide continue to provide resources to help Syria’s refugee children maintain access to schooling, says former MEP Mariela Baeva.

The good news is that – using the support of the EU and our campaigners – 220,000 Syrian child refugees will be registered in school this term in Lebanon. The conflict has forced these children to flee their homes in Syria and escape to neighbouring Lebanon.

It is hard to overestimate how much the hope of going back to school can mean to so many people. However, some know better than most. Take 12-year-old Mayass, who has just written a blog post about her recent return to school; “On the first day back I felt that my life had become beautiful,” she said.

World leaders will soon meet again in London at a pledging conference to seek further funding for Syria. This offers a real opportunity to build further on what we have shown is achievable. We can help another one million Syrian children get back into school.

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• Mariela Baeva: Syrian refugee children deserve chance for education

Many people claim that it is just not possible to educate children when conflict or natural disasters disturb their lives. However, with the support of the EU and other stakeholders, we are demonstrating this is not the case. Quite the opposite; when things go wrong, schools are a vital part of the response – and vital in providing hope for the future.

We have helped secure this progress through our work as campaigners, but there is still many more people that we need to convince. New figures recently released by the United Nations this week show that there is now a €583m gap in the money needed to build on this progress. This is the amount we need to get nearly one million Syrian refugee children in Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan back to school.

Please help maintain the progress for those children who deserve hope for a better future.

Mariela Baeva