HRW: 250,000 Syrian Children Seeking Asylum Are Not Enrolled In School

A Human Rights Watch report has found that half of nearly 500,000 school-age Syrian children are not enrolled in formal education in Lebanon.

The report highlights that harsh residency requirements is restricting freedom of movement, exacerbating poverty and limiting parents’ ability to send their children to school and contributing to child labor.

The Human Rights Watch group has also found that some schools in Lebanon are making it difficult for Syrian Children to enrol. The report mentions experiences where families have gone to enrol their child to be told that they school is only enrolling students

The Lebanese Government has however allowed the students to be enrolled for free and without residency restrictions and an extra afternoon school shift has also been added to cope with the enlarged cohort.

Lebanon is is hosting 1.1 million refugees from Syria and allows Syrian children to enrol in public schools for free. However, due to limited resources, funding and government policies Syrians are keeping their children out of school.