Qatar Charity (QC), in partnership with Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD), continues, for the third year in a row, to implement a school rehabilitation project in northern Syria.

The project aims to enhance the access of internally displaced students to quality education and create an attractive educational environment.  This project is part of QUEST initiative to support education in northwestern Syria.

The schools of northwestern Syria have overcrowded classrooms that caused an increase in the percentage of school dropouts due to lack of capacity. This is according to the 2022 humanitarian needs assessment by the United Nations agencies.

The project includes rebuilding destroyed roofs and walls, repairing electricity networks and health facilities, restoring broken doors and windows, and repainting and decorating schools to create a nurturing environment for students.

The project targets 83 schools, 17 in al-Bab, 33 in Azaz and Afrin, 17 in Tell Abyad, and 16 in Ras al-Ayn, with a total of 700 classrooms.

“Supporting education for Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) is important to us,” said Ms. Nouf Al Kaabi, Director of QFFD’s Projects and Programs Department. “QFFD, through the QUEST initiative, aims to provide the best available opportunities and potentials necessary for the effective transition to formal education to create successful and effective persons and make their future better.”  

Mr. Abdullah Muslim, coordinator of the Education Section at Qatar Charity’s Turkey office, said more than 53,000 male and female students have benefited from the project in the last three year, while 24,500 children are benefiting from it this year. He also added that 1,400 classrooms have been repaired and renovated over the last three years.

Mr. Muhammad Jihad Al-Naasan, director of Al-Orouba School, said, before its renovation, the school was in a very bad condition due to the broken windows and damaged walls, and there were nearly 35 students per classroom. He added that after the refurbishing, many of children, who dropped out, returned to the school.

He thanked QFFD and Qatar Charity for implementing this important educational project. He expressed his hope that the project would include building new classrooms for the preparatory and secondary grades.

It is worth mentioning that Qatar Charity, in cooperation with QFFD, continues to implement the ‘schoolbook printing and distribution’ project for the third year in a row. Some 183,200 books (out of a total of 1.5 million books) have so far been printed and will be distributed at the beginning of the 2022/2023 academic year.