Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan has exchanged letters with UNICEF to provide aid of 713 million yen (around $6,5 million) to improve access to a safe learning environment and quality education in Syria.

With Syria now in its 11th year of war, it is said that about 13.4 million people, including 6.2 million internally displaced persons, need humanitarian and protection assistance, of which about 6.1 million are children.

According to a UNICEF survey, about 2.5 million children are out of school and an additional 1.6 million may drop out.

Due to the effects of the prolonged conflict, there are many children who have never been educated and improving access to education is seen as an urgent issue.

The suburbs of Damascus have been damaged by fierce fighting and have a high proportion of orphans and child marriages. Aleppo saw the arrival of many internally displaced persons in the latter half of 2020, and many schools are being used as temporary shelters.

The Japan-UNICEF initiative will provide training to teachers, help with the repair of school buildings damaged in battle and improve the quality of education, thereby improving the humanitarian crisis situation in the country.