Gareth Johnson – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department for International Development
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Gareth Johnson on 2016-07-13.
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what estimate her Department has made of the number of refugee children currently receiving an education in Syria; and what assessment she has made of the quality of that education provision.
Rory Stewart
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) estimates that a total of 5.4 million Syrian children and youth (aged 5-17 years) inside Syria are in need of educational assistance. The UK works closely with UNICEF and other partners to protect access to education across the whole of Syria, improve safety in and around schools, and maintain the quality of teaching and learning as far as is possible in an active war-zone. However, it is not possible systematically to measure the quality of learning and teaching inside Syria in the way that the UK does in more stable countries. UK education assistance has supported around half a million children inside Syria.
UK funding supports the provision of vital learning materials, remedial and alternative education for children who have lost months or years of schooling, and access to the official exams that enable children to secure higher education and jobs. UK support is also helping teachers to stay in the teacher workforce.
