360° video: Out of Syria, back into school

this is the Bekaa Valley in Lebanon look around you you're standing in the middle of a makeshift camp built by people who fled their homes across the border in Syria this country is home to more than a million Syrian refugees over five years the war in Syria has killed more than a quarter of a million people around half of the refugees who fled to Lebanon are children they are out of Syria but a hundred and eighty thousand of them are still out of school Syria lies over the mountains this place is just ten kilometers from the border almost one in five Syrian refugees in Lebanon live in makeshift shacks like these that you see the young man on the right is Mustafa he's 13 he fled his hometown of Hama in Syria more than four years ago because of the Civil War he hasn't been to school since instead of being in class he's helping to support his family today Mustapha is helping his dad - man who's a painter and decorator he also works at a local grocery store selling fruit and vegetables from 9:00 in the morning until 4:00 p.m. Mustafa is life in Syria was very different I used to go to school he says I used to have friends there since fleeing Syria Mustafa has been living here with his mother father two brothers and a sister the family all share this one-bedroom it's far from ideal but it is shelter and it is safety from the war at home Mustafa works eats and sleeps he doesn't have any friends outside his immediate family but he does have a dream education is very important he says if the situation was different I would go to school now Mustafa hopes to join an after-hours education program nearby an informal school that's backed by British aid this is Sarah in the red coat she's 12 years old when her family left their hometown of Daraa in Syria more than three years ago they left everything behind thinking they would go back in just a matter of months now Sarah lives in Lebanon with her mother her father brothers and two sisters Sarah registered at the local school Syrian refugees are being taught there with the help of UK aid I was so happy that I was enrolled in school she says wherever I go I would like to continue to learn we're now in bar Elias School in Lebanon this is where Sarah at the front on the left is back in class school here in Lebanon has one big difference from that in Syria most of the curriculum here is in either English or French but the writing on the whiteboard is in Arabic which is what most Syrian students are used to in the morning the school runs mix classes for both Lebanese children and Syrians who've learned enough English or French to understand the lessons in the afternoon it has sessions for refugee students only you may still be getting to grips with the language and the new studies over the past year more than 200,000 Syrian refugee children like Sarah were enrolled into Lebanese schools the aim now is to get all Syrian children back into education not just in Lebanon but right across the region as Sarah says school is important we learn many things in order to become a strong generation Sarah is glad to be back in school after fleeing the war in Syria but ultimately she wants to go home my only dream is to go back to Syria she says we're very happy here in Lebanon but it's not my country my country deserves me

Channel: DFID - Department for International Development

Views: 15,006

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Id: 2wMqzvqRMQo

Length: 3min 49sec (229 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 11 2016