Inside Arsal Camp: Education is the only Children’s Hope

15 Apr 2015

Beyond the ring of Lebanese checkpoints, Islamic State (Isis) and al-Nusra Front militants rule, there is Arsal, the area that has been shunned by aid agencies as being too dangerous. Education here is crucial; there are 11,000 children packed into this town who need to learn and need the cathartic routine offered by regular school attendance – a way to try and forget their appalling war experiences. Education represents their future, their only hope. Three Lebanese schools offering the school share system, where state schools run a second shift to help educate young Syrian refugees. This scheme is admirable, but it can only cater for a small proportion of refugee children and the drop-out rate is high because much of the Lebanese curriculum is delivered in French, not the Syrian children’s accustomed Arabic. Many informal camp schools have sprung up, run by volunteer Syrian managers and teachers. I find these schools so inspiring; the volunteers provide high quality teaching with only limited funding from small Lebanese organizations and Gulf state donors. If they’re lucky they might get a one-off payment of $50 (£33) every four months or so. Many informal camp schools have sprung up, run by volunteer Syrian managers and teachers. I find these schools so inspiring; the volunteers provide high quality teaching with only limited funding from small Lebanese organisations and Gulf state donors. If they’re lucky they might get a one-off payment of $50 (£33) every four months or so.