New European Union support for education in Syria

The European Union has again this week renewed its commitment to the right of every human to education, even in the most challenging of circumstances.

Under the Instrument contributing to Stability and Peace, the European Union will provide €10 million to support Education Directorates in opposition-held areas in Syria. The European Union's priority is to maintain basic services such as access and quality of education for the Syrian population in the midst of the conflict, especially in areas where sufficient funding is lacking, in order to be ready to assist further once a genuine political transition in the country is underway. European Union funds will help the Education Directorates to meet the basic living needs of the teachers and staff as well as to address issues of access and quality to schooling.

 European Union funding will provide urgently needed funds to allow students to sit the equivalent of secondary school examinations in the summer of 2017, which are the pre-requisites for university entry.  In the academic year 2017/18, funds will ensure delivery of teacher stipends to over 11,000 teachers and education officials in opposition-held provinces of Idlib, Aleppo, Dera'a and Rural Damascus, and therefore access to education for up to 450,000 students across up to 2,000 schools. Psycho-social activities to help students, teachers and their communities to cope with trauma, as well as youth engagement, will reach up to 50,000 students and their communities. Support to the Education Directorates, which work under the umbrella of the Syrian interim Government, will also help to protect civic space in Syria and help to prevent radicalisation.

 This support further demonstrates the European Union's support for the Syrian people since the outbreak of the crisis. The European Union is the leading actor, having mobilised collectively with EU Member States over €9.4 billion in humanitarian and development assistance for Syrian refugees inside Syria and in the surrounding countries. It is also actively supporting a political settlement of the conflict under the aegis of the UN in Geneva that will bring about a genuine political transition in line with the relevant UNSC Resolutions and bring back peace to the Syrian population.