Syrian refugees in Lebanon and their right to education

Abstract

Lebanon is one of the countries in the world hosting the most refugees relative to its population size: an estimated 1.5 million Syrian refugees live in this country and around 655,000 of them are believed to be young people aged between 3 to 18. Access to quality education is key to ensuring the continued learning of children displaced due to the on-going conflict in Syria; otherwise a high proportion of uneducated Syrians could potentially have serious individual and societal consequences. Furthermore, to understand the difficult situation of these asylum seekers and the hard work needed of the Lebanese government it is important not to skim over the historical relationship between the countries, Syria and Lebanon, especially with regard to the Lebanese civil war and the period that followed. This paper analyzes what Lebanon is doing to protect, defend and improve Syrian refugee’s right to education and how the international community - especially the UN - can help the national government to achieve this goal. The paper highlights the efforts of the Lebanese Government to provide a receptive environment to refugees and create meaningful opportunities to deliver the best quality of education to the highest number of refugees possible across the different age groups