The Turkish Foreign Ministry announced during a discussion of its budget before the Turkish parliament last week, which includes some items related to Syrian refugees, that four in ten Syrian children did not go to school.
The numbers presented to the council by the Ministry said that out of the more than one million Syrian children in Turkey, there were only about 641,000 in school. The rest do not go to school, amounting to about 400,000.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry named these children the “lost Syrian generation” in their report submitted to the budget committee in the Turkish parliament.
The rate of Syrian children in school rose to about 61 percent of their total during the latest school semester, while the Ministry added that the number of Syrian students in Turkish universities had reached 20,000 students during the latest school period.
The Ministry said that out of 3.6 million Syrians in Turkey, there were about 1.7 million under the age of 18, with 1.1 million being of school age. There were also about 568,000 under the age of four, which meant that the number of children who will soon reach school age will rise.
Regarding spending on Syrians in Turkey, the Ministry said that the total spending was 33 billion US dollars, while financial support to Turkey did not reach expectations in this area. Out of the three billion euros promised by the European Union, Turkey has only obtained 1.7 billion dollars.
This article was translated and edited by The Syrian Observer. Responsibility for the information and views set out in this article lies entirely with the author.
