children and education


TWO FUTURES: Which child has a better chance?


Nawfal and Mohammad are two Syrian boys who fled the violence in their country and found shelter in Lebanon. A small part of the exodus of more than one million Syrian refugees now registered in Lebanon, they face very different futures.


Nawfal, whose old home was in Raqqa, Syria, now lives in an informal settlement in the Beka’a Valley. Like thousands of other children in


the


area, he does not go to school. For most of the day, he hangs around or plays with other children amid the garbage, open sewers and mud. They have no toys, no playground and nothing to do.


“I miss my school,” Nawfal said. “I never missed a day of school in Syria. I miss my books the most. I miss reading.” In 2009, before the war began, only 1.1 per cent of Syrian children did not attend primary school. By 2013 that had leapt to 29.1 per cent.


In contrast, Mohammad, 15, and his five siblings are an example of what can be achieved when refugee children are given a


chance in education.


Mohammad was always top of his class back in Syria. He and his family had to flee their home in Daraya almost four years ago and the children spent more than a year in Lebanon without going to school. But Mohammad’s parents never gave up on their


children’s


education. All of them attend Lebanese public schools. And all are among the top students in their years.


28 / UNHCR


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