United Nations’ International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression: Education for #NoLostGeneration in Syria
Published: Jun 3, 2016 Reading time: 4 minutes
Today, 4th June, is the United Nations’ International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression. Each year, this day serves as a time for people around the world to acknowledge the pain suffered by children who are the victims of physical, mental and emotional abuse.
Today, as the conflict in Syria continues into its sixth year, and civilians – men, women and children alike - continue to fall victim to indiscriminate and targeted attack, our attention focuses on the innocent children caught up in this war and their futures.
In 2013, the UN issued a report on the fate and future of Syrian children, titled simply “Syria’s Children: A Lost Generation?” The report stated that “the risk of losing a generation grows with every day that the situation deteriorates, while the progress made for Syrian children in previous years is undone.” This was 3 years ago. For millions of children, their pain has only grown, and the pain of loss is far too familiar. Children of this generation have lost family members, friends, homes, childhoods and their access to education.
With one in every four schools damaged, destroyed or being used as shelters by people displaced from their homes, it is estimated that 5.7 million children inside Syria are in need of education assistance. Children and teachers in Syria face a daily battle for education. Prior to the conflict, Syria had a promising education system with near-universal primary school enrolment. Not only were 100% of male and 98% of female children in primary education, but literacy rates were over 90% and almost 5% of annual gross domestic product was being spent on national learning.
Since 2011, when the conflict began, schools in Syria have lost over 20% of teaching staff, with many forced to flee the conflict and seek refuge in neighbouring countries. The lack of qualified staff coupled with a lack of education materials and funding means that the quality of education on offer is comparably much poorer.
Nevertheless, brave men and women continue to find ways to educate children despite the dangers and the challenges.
In addition to distributing material, financial and food aid, People in Need (PIN) supports teachers and students in 20 schools across Aleppo and Idlib governorates in northern Syria. This academic year, PIN supports 465 teaching staff and a total of 3535 female students and 3686 male students in these 20 schools. It is with the generous support of the European Commission (EC) and the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) that this educational assistance is provided.
The principal of a PIN-supported primary school in Aleppo describes how access to education in his town has declined in the last 5 years. “The students in my town have suffered greatly and the standard of education is very poor now due to the crushing war.” He notes that “prior to November 2015, when People in Need took the initiative of funding our school, the school staff were working voluntarily; without any financial support.”
The principal details the ways in which PIN has been able to offer support to the school. “Firstly” he describes, “PIN started providing financial incentives for the school staff. Secondly, they provided teacher kits to all the staff as well as schoolbags and stationery for the students. The teacher kits were very useful; and included whiteboard markers, notebooks, pens and pencils in addition to some useful teaching aids and materials. Thirdly, PIN provided the school with generators and diesel for heating. Fourthly, and most importantly, PIN provided students with access to psychosocial support. The school contracted two psychosocial support facilitators who assist traumatized and introverted students in order to improve their skills, abilities and their social life.”
With 24 teachers and 2 psychosocial support facilitators helping them, more than 580 students receive an education at this school today.
In order to create a safe and welcoming space for the children to study and play, PIN has also assisted in the rehabilitation of the school in recent months. The rehabilitation works included restorations to all the facilities including the classrooms, playgrounds and latrines. Paintings of the children’s favourite cartoon characters now line the walls of the school corridors. In the ongoing endeavor to uphold a degree of normality amidst a crisis, the school staff will also begin a summer club this week which will provide students with access to backup lessons and offer a supportive and child-friendly environment for recreational activities.
Today, on the United Nations’ International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, alongside other humanitarian actors and aid agencies, we take this opportunity to call for more action to be taken to support the education of children in Syria in order to prevent a lost generation and to instil hope for a future free from suffering.
