BEIRUT: After weeks of intensive counseling, to acclimatize them
to their disruptive living conditions and a new curriculum, 500 displaced
Syrian children have now begun school in Akkar and Tripoli, according to the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Friday.
There are currently about 3,500 displaced Syrians registered
with the United Nations body and Lebanon’s Higher Relief Council in the north
of Lebanon, 900 of which are school-aged children.
The Lebanese Education Ministry announced in September that
school age children could be enrolled in local schools, through the UNHCR and
its partner the Danish Refugee Council, supported by funding from the
London-based Said and Asfari Foundations, who assist with school registration,
the payment of school fees, and the distribution of books, uniforms, school
bags and educational kits.
Robert Przedpelski, UNHCR’s team leader in the north, said that
it has taken a long time to ready children, parents and schools for admission.
“Initially many schools were unaware of the decree and not
immediately ready to accept Syrian children; parents were afraid to let their
children start in a new system aware of the different curriculum, fearing
frustration among their children and possible discrimination; and, many
children were also afraid to make this radical change,” he said.
Despite many possible challenges ahead with the different
Lebanese curriculum, 5-year-old Farah was excited to start school in Wadi
Khaled, five months after fleeing Syria.
“I am so relieved to be back in school,” she said. Farah fled
Tall Kalakh with her parents and four brothers and sisters in June and all have
been sharing one small room in a collective shelter in northern Wadi Khaled
since then.
Child refugees have been registeredin over 24 schools in the
north, and more children are expected to enrol before the end of the year.
Mohammad Ghadwan Kanj, a school principal in Rama, said Syrian
children face several challenges: “Six out of nine subjects are given in French
which most Syrian children are not quite comfortable with,” and many are in
need of “constant psycho-social support as many have been through destabilizing
experiences.”
Also Friday, a Lebanese man, Ayman Owaishi, became the first
casualty of land mines planted by Syrian troops along the countries’ border.
Owaishi, 24, was wounded when he stepped on a land mine planted
in the border town of Amayra in the Wadi Khaled region, a security source said.
Owaishi is receiving treatment at the Salam hospital in
Qobeiyat.
President
Michel Sleiman confirmed earlier this week that the Syrian army had planted
land mines along the border with Lebanon.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Nov-12/153839-displaced-syrian-children-begin-school-in-lebanon-un.ashx#axzz1dsxPgXvI
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