400,000 Syrian refugee children lack access to schools in Turkey
Hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugee children of school age are not provided with education in Turkey, a new report says.
According to data released by Human Rights Watch on Monday, only one third of the Syrian refugee children in Turkey are attending school. Of more than 700,000 children, only about 200,000 were attending classes in the previous school year, the report said.
Turkey has been hosting more than 2 million refugees from Syria since the country’s crisis began in 2011.
“If a child doesn’t go to school, it will create big problems in the future – they will end up on the streets, or go back to Syria to die fighting, or be radicalized into extremists, or die in the ocean trying to reach Europe,” read the report.
The 62-page report documented the obstacles that prevent Syrian children from getting formal education in Turkey. Language barriers and financial difficulties were among the impediments mentioned in the report.
Many other children face bullying and social integration difficulties that lead them to drop out, the report said. Other refugee children are not attending school due to working to financially support their families.
Turkey allowed Syrian children to attend public schools last year, but did not provide sufficient schools for non-Turkish speakers.
Human Rights Watch called on Ankara to work quickly to secure these children’s education.
Syria has been gripped by deadly violence since March 2011. More than 230,000 people have reportedly been killed and millions displaced due to the violence fueled by the foreign-sponsored militants in Syria.
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