BEIRUT: The U.K. is set to offer a long-term assistance plan that would contribute to Lebanon’s efforts to educate thousands of refugee children in its public schools, a British official pledged Wednesday, after Lebanon’s Education Ministry called on the international community to provide necessary funds for the initiative.
“We are here to support [the education minister’s] plan” said Desmond Swayne, minister of state at the U.K. Department for International Development, after a meeting with Education Minister Elias Bou Saab Wednesday.
“We are committed to offering education to young Syrian refugees."
The British official said that the long-term assistance plan would be announced during a U.N. meeting in New York that is set to discuss the international commitment to Lebanon’s plan to provide the “right for education” to Syrian refugees.
Bou Saab warned that Lebanon could not shoulder the burden of educating the refugee children alone.
“The number of refugee students is about 400,000 and our schools can only accommodate 300,000, keeping in mind that the number of Lebanese students in public schools totals 275,000,” he said..
Speaking on his plan to fund the education of refugees, Bou Saab said international aid would help Lebanese public schools to accommodate at least 300,000 refugees for a period of three years.
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