More than 2 mln children deprived of education in Syria: UNICEF

The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday said more than two million children in Syria were deprived of education at the time children around the world return to school.

According to UNICEF, another 400,000 are at risk of dropping out as a result of conflict, violence and displacement.

As the conflict in Syria enters its fifth year, the crisis continues to wipe out years of achievements in education. Some children in Syria have never been inside a classroom, while others lost up to four years of their schooling.

There are 5,000 schools across the country that cannot be used because they have been destroyed, damaged, converted to shelter displaced families or for military use. In 2014 alone, at least 60 schools were attacked, sometimes deliberately.

Meanwhile, UNICEF said children across Syria are showing exceptional levels of resilience and persistence to continue their education. To take their exams last summer, at least 20 percent of Syria's children were forced to cross lines of fire. Taking a perilous journey, children had to pass through countless checkpoints and risked being caught up in fierce fighting.

"Syria's basic public services, including education, have been stretched to the maximum," said Hanaa Singer, UNICEF Representative in Syria. "We need to do so much more to help the education institutions from collapsing and increase opportunities for children to access education across the country."

UNICEF has a wide network of local partners on the ground working to reach around three million children. For the first time since the war started, an informal education program has been rolled out to reduce the number of out-of-school children. UNICEF is locally printing school supplies and text books to distribute them to students in need. Endit