George and Amal Clooney to help 3,000 Syrian refugee children go to school
George and Amal Clooney are stepping up their efforts to help Syrian refugee children get a formal education in Lebanon.
The Clooney Foundation for Justice said it's teaming up with Google and HP Inc to support the U.N. children's agency, Unicef, and the Lebanese ministry of education in their bid to open seven "second shift" schools for Syrian refugee children.
The project, which includes a $3.25 million donation from the three entities involved, will pay for transportation, school supplies, computers, content, curriculum and teacher training of 3,000 currently out-of-school refugee students.
These additional afternoon classes will be exclusive to Syrian children in an effort to bring them up to speed with the other Lebanese children while helping them cope with the stresses associated with war and traumatic journeys.
Exposure to trauma can have long-terms effects, including learning difficulties, and increase the drop-out rate massively. The Foundation will also support a program of "technology tools" in these schools -- though it is unclear which tools will be used.
“Thousands of young Syrian refugees are at risk -- the risk of never being a productive part of society. Formal education can help change that," George and Amal Clooney said in a statement.
"That’s our goal with this initiative. We don’t want to lose an entire generation because they had the bad luck of being born in the wrong place at the wrong time."
The organisation has thrown their support behind the public school system instead of funding the private schools operated by the company Sabis, according to a spokesman, Max Gleischman.
More than 200,000 Syrian refugee children in Lebanon are out of school, according to Unicef.
Educational initiatives for Syrian refugees have also gotten a boost from the tech community of late. In March, two free mobile games, Antura and the Letters and Feed the Monster, won top honors at EduApp4Syria, an international tech competition that helps Syrian refugee children learn and play after they have been forced out of school due to conflict.
Topics Activism Social Good
