[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:02.12]this is the Education Report.
[00:05.10]The United Nations Children's Fund(UNICEF)
[00:08.39]is appealing to international donors
[00:11.07]to help provide education money
[00:13.94]for Syrian school children.
[00:16.44]Safe places to learn,
[00:18.58]teachers and supplies are all lacking,
[00:22.42]and almost two million young Syrian students
[00:26.35]have dropped out of school.
[00:28.50]UNICEF says about 40 percent of students
[00:33.28]in grades one to nine across the nation
[00:36.81]no longer attend for more classes.
[00:40.51]UNICEF spokeswoman Marixie Mercado says
[00:45.28]about half those are now refugees
[00:48.37]in Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey.
[00:52.41]"Thirty months into the conflict,
[00:54.65]children are becoming increasingly afraid,
[00:56.99]angry and frustrated.
[00:59.08]The risk of a lost generation becomes more acute
[01:02.30]with each day that they are out of school."
[01:04.65]In the northern city of Aleppo, for example,
[01:08.53]only 6 percent of children of school-age are in classrooms,
[01:14.51]but the school year there and in other locations
[01:19.00]begin as planned on September 15.
[01:23.39]Talk of military strike by the United States
[01:27.28]has caused uncertainty about starting classes,
[01:31.97]but schools opened after a strike appeared less likely.
[01:36.95]Still many children who once walked to school
[01:41.69]are now taken there by their parents,
[01:44.92]and other families have simply left the country.
[01:49.87]Lebanon now is trying to help about 550,000
[01:55.90]school-age Syrian refugee children.
[01:59.30]UNICEF says the Lebanese public education system
[02:04.74]can take care of 300,000 Lebanese children.
[02:10.12]UNICEF is establishing schools for refugee children in buses.
[02:16.44]In Jordan, UNICEF says about two-thirds of 150,000
[02:24.27]Syrian school-age children are not in school.
[02:28.59]One main refugee camp has 30,000 Syrian children,
[02:35.12]fewer than half are in school.
[02:38.71]In Iraq, UNICEF says nine out of 10
[02:43.49]Syrian refugee children are out of school.
[02:47.47]Inside Syria, Miss Mercado says
[02:51.86]the educational system has been torn apart.
[02:55.85]But UNICEF and Syrian government say
[03:00.13]about 3,000 schools have been damaged or destroyed.
[03:05.21]In addition, more than 900 schools that are still standing
[03:10.44]are being used as shelter for displaced families.
[03:14.93]"The fact that there are still children going to school
[03:18.38]in this context is quite incredible."
[03:20.13]Miss Mercado says the agency is operating programs
[03:24.76]for children to learn at home.
[03:26.80]The UNICEF spokeswoman praises what she believes
[03:31.18]is the huge importance that Syrian parents place on eduction.
[03:37.07]UNICEF has asked for $161 million
[03:42.65]from international donors for education.
[03:46.08]But the agency says it has received only $51 million.
[03:52.26]And that's the Education Report from VOA Learning English.
[03:57.34]I'm Avi Arditti.