Mariam Khatib, a 15-year-old Syrian refugee in Lebanon, says she has just one wish in life – to be able to go back to school.
“People
are nothing without education,” says the shy teenager, who has not been
in a classroom since her family fled the southern Syrian province of
Daraa three and a half years ago.
“I wish God would grant one wish to me and my siblings – that he opens the door for us to go to school,” she told AFP.
Mariam
and her siblings are among more than 250,000 Syrian refugee children –
around half of the 500,000 school-aged Syrian children registered in
Lebanon – who are not in school, according to a report released by Human
Rights Watch (HRW) on July 19.
“The high number of refugee children out of school is an immediate crisis,” the New York-based watchdog warned.
“Some have never stepped inside a classroom.”
The
problem is particularly acute among children aged 15-18, just three
percent of whom were enrolled in Lebanon’s public schools during the
2015-2016 school year, according to HRW.
And the crisis continues
despite the efforts of the Lebanese government and international donors
to increase enrolment among the more than one million Syrians who have
taken refuge in the country since the war began in March 2011.
In
Qab Elias, in Lebanon’s eastern Bekaa Valley, dozens of informal
refugee camps are full of children who are getting no education.
“I
can’t describe how tough it feels. It’s really hard,” said Mariam’s
18-year-old brother Ismael, who has not been to school since the eighth
grade.
“I long to go back to school… I really miss my friends and the teachers.”
Their father Imad al-Din said he simply could not afford to send his children to school.
“I’m so afraid for their future if they don’t get an education.”
Many
refugees in Lebanon cite fees as a hurdle to enrolling their children,
despite a Lebanese government policy waiving admission fees for primary
school children.
The issue illustrates what HRW calls a key
problem: that Lebanese government policies intended to increase refugee
school enrolment are being unevenly implemented and in some cases
ignored.
Education not only problem
The problems of Syrian refugees in Lebanon are not limited with education, unfortunately.
Syrian
refugee Abu Adnan was rushing his newborn to the doctor one night in
the Lebanese town of Rmeish when municipal police stopped him and began
questioning him.
He was in violation of a municipal curfew that prevents Syrian refugees from leaving their homes between sunset and sunrise.
“They began questioning me – ‘Where are you going? Why?’” he told AFP, speaking on condition that a pseudonym be used.
Eventually
he was allowed to continue, but was followed to and from the doctor’s
office, ensuring that he returned straight home.
This is just one example of what Syrian refugees and local activists say is increasing pressure on, and even outright racism against, Syrian refugees in Lebanon.
Lebanon
hosts more than one million Syrian refugees – roughly a quarter of its
population – and has regularly been praised for opening its borders to
those fleeing the brutal conflict in its neighbor.
But the
refugee influx has strained resources and tempers, with some Lebanese
viewing the years-long presence of Syrians as a burden, even an
imposition.
Some municipalities have taken matters into their own
hands, imposing curfews on refugees, ordering night raids on their
homes, evicting them or even making them clean the streets.
“Lately, things have become very difficult,” said Abu Adnan.
“Once, a group of drunken young men broke into the home of some Syrian refugees and started beating and cursing them,” he said.
“The municipality did nothing for the Syrians; instead it evicted dozens from their homes.”
