Syria: more than half of children are out of school, says major NGO

After nearly 14 years of civil war, more than half of Syria’s children are out of school, a major NGO has warned. Save the Children has called for “immediate action” on this issue.

“Around 3.7 million children are out of school [in Syria],” The charity’s Syria director, Rasha Muhrez, told AFP. “This is more than half of the children of school age.”

While some schools have been destroyed or damaged due to years of war that displaced millions of people, Muhrez pointed out that another group of schools are being “used as shelters again due to the new wave of displaced people.”

According to the UN, more than 700,000 people were displaced by the offensive launched by armed factions led by Hay’at Tahrir Al-Sham, which led to the ouster of Bashar Al-Assad on 8 December.

“About 7.5 million children are in need of immediate humanitarian assistance,” said Muhrez. This is a result of about 14 years of conflict, natural disasters and economic collapse, which have deprived children of their basic rights, including access to education.

Syria is still suffering from Western sanctions, and more than one in four Syrians currently lives in extreme poverty, according to the World Bank. The international body said that the devastating earthquake in 2023 exacerbated the situation.

“The war has had a huge impact, a huge traumatic impact on them, for various reasons, for losses: a parent, a sibling, a friend, a house,” said the Save the Children official. She noted that many children were born during the conflict, and some have become teenagers or young adults during the war. The NGO estimates that about 6.4 million of Syrian children need psychological help.

Although international sanctions were imposed on Syria under Bashar Al-Assad after the war began, these “continued coercive measures and sanctions have the largest impact on the Syrian people themselves.”

The head of the new Syrian administration, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, called on Sunday for US President-elect Donald Trump to lift the sanctions imposed by Washington on Syria.

“It’s very difficult for us to continue responding to the needs and to reach people in need with limited resources [and] with these restrictive measures [still in place],” added Muhrez.

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