Human Rights Watch: Syrian refugee children cannot receive education in Turkey
More than 400,000 Syrian refugee children living in Turkey are not attending school, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 62-page report, “‘When I Picture My Future, I See Nothing’: Barriers to Education for Syrian Refugee Children in Turkey,” documents the major obstacles that prevent Syrian refugee children from getting formal education in Turkey, which is hosting more than 2 million refugees from the Syrian conflict that began in 2011. Turkey says it has already spent over US$7 billion on its response to the Syrian refugee crisis since 2011, and $252 million on Syrian refugee education in 2014-2015 alone. The international community should provide urgent financial and technical support for initiatives to provide Syrian refugees with greater access to education. Turkey should also grant Syrian refugees lawful access to employment, in line with international human rights standards, which could reduce the assistance they need to survive and to ensure that their children are in school. Of the Syrian refugees living in Turkey, 708,000 are school-age children. In 2014-2015, just over 212,000 were enrolled in formal education at the primary and secondary levels, based on Ministry of National Education data. While the enrollment rate inside refugee camps was nearly 90 percent, most refugees live outside camps, where only 25 percent of school-age children were enrolled in school. Overall, more than two-thirds of Syrian children are receiving no formal education in Turkey. The U.S.-based rights group cited language barriers, integration issues and financial difficulties as reasons for the poor attendance in a report released Nov. 9 on its website. “Securing these children’s education will reduce the risks of early marriage and military recruitment of children by armed groups, stabilize their economic future by increasing their earning potential and ensure that today’s young Syrians will be better equipped to confront uncertain futures,” HRW said. The group called on the international community to provide “urgent financial and technical support” for initiatives that would expand the children’s access to an education.
