Money for refugee schools goes missing

Millions in unaccounted funds frustrate efforts to meet schooling needs in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey

Governments and aid agencies have been unable to account for millions of dollars in school aid for Syrian refugees, frustrating efforts to meet schooling needs for children in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey, Human Rights Watch said yesterday.

More than half-a-million school-age Syrian refugees in the three countries were out of school last year, in part because of severe funding gaps, the report by the New Yorkbased group said. There are at least 1.6 million Syrian children refugees in the region.

In Lebanon, classes for Syrian refugee children are packed, and students attend school in half-day shifts in order to free up classroom space for enrolment. Even so, more than half the school-age Syrians in the country are not attending school, according to Lisa Abu Khalid, a communications officer for the UN refugee agency.

The challenges include pulling impoverished children away from work, finding money to pay for their transportation and supplies, and helping students feel safe and comfortable in schools.

Human Rights Watch says late or missing aid has compounded those problems.

The US government aid agency USAID, for example, reported it had given $248 million (Dh910 million) in school aid to Jordan last year, but Jordan’s government only reported receiving $13 million.

A separate USAID database only tracked $82 million in disbursements that year. Aid agencies in Lebanon are trying to fill a $25 million budget deficit to get students back in school this year, Abou Khalid said.

Human Rights Watch said donor nations fell $97 million short of their pledges to provide $250 million for schooling in Lebanon in 2016. The six largest donors are the EU, the US, Germany, the UK, Japan, and Norway.

Human Rights Watch researcher Simon Rau and one of the authors of the report said more transparency is needed to identify the funding gaps.