Damascus, September 2025 – This month marks a turning point for Syria’s children. After more than a decade of crisis and disrupted education, a powerful shift is underway—a movement to bring children not just back into classrooms, but back into hope and opportunity.
Syria’s protracted conflict has created a complex web of humanitarian, economic, and social challenges. Millions of children have been exposed to violence, displacement, and trauma. The economy has been devastated, with 90% of Syrians living in poverty, widespread unemployment, and soaring food prices leaving 9.3 million people food insecure. These combined factors create significant barriers for children to access safe, quality education and rebuild their futures.
The Back-to-Learning campaign highlights not only a return to classrooms, but a renewed commitment to education as the cornerstone of recovery. The Global Partnership for Education (GPE) along with UNICEF and Save the Children have supported out-of-school children and those at risk of dropping out through non-formal education pathways.
By providing accelerated learning programs, remedial classes and early childhood education, the program helps children acquire foundational and life skills and eases their transition into formal schooling.
To date, more than 15,000 children have transitioned into formal schooling thanks to the GPE program. To support this transition, the program has equipped over 3,800 students with a tailored age- and grade-appropriate learning kit, giving them the tools and confidence to successfully reintegrate into formal school. And school rehabilitation efforts have helped ensure that students are learning in safe education environments.
“After 14 years of conflict, children are returning to school with a fresh start and a step toward equal opportunity for every child, no matter where they live or what they have endured over this period," said Zeinab Adam, Deputy Representative, UNICEF in Syria.
Children finding their way back
Across Syria, children like Hayat, who dreams of becoming a paediatrician, and Sarah*, who calls school “my life,” are finding safety, belonging, and opportunity through education. Their teachers, many trained to provide both academic and emotional support, are helping them regain confidence and rebuild futures once put on hold.
Impact at a glance
- Over 178,000 children enrolled in non-formal education pathways.
- Almost 65,100 children with disabilities supported to participate in education.
- Over 19,814 teachers trained in pedagogy, psychosocial support, and child protection.
- More than 94,500 earthquake-affected children benefited from non-formal education services, and 96% of supported students showed improved reading and math skills.
- More than 2,930 children enrolled in early childhood education programs.
Education for recovery
Since 2020, GPE has provided over US$46 million in grants to support education in Syria, working alongside partners to create safe, protective learning spaces, improve infrastructure, and strengthen community engagement. GPE funding has also supported sector coordination, improving alignment of national and international efforts to meet education needs.
For families and teachers, the return to school is more than an academic milestone, it is a commitment to peace, resilience and the future of Syria’s children.
Education multiplies possibility: it not only equips children with literacy and numeracy, but also strengthens life skills, resilience, and hope. By keeping children engaged in learning, education protects them from the risks of child labor, early marriage, and exploitation, while opening pathways to future study, employment, and participation in rebuilding their communities.
GPE financing campaign
GPE launched an ambitious financing campaign at the UN General Assembly in September to mobilize $5 billion and unlock an additional $10 billion for education, multiplying learning possibilities for 750 million children in 96 countries.
Co-hosted by Italy’s Prime Minister Georgia Meloni and Nigerian President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GPE’s campaign aims to turn the tide on the global learning crisis as the world stands at an inflection point.
Read the case for investment: https://www.globalpartnership.org/funding/replenishment/financing-gpe-2030
* Name has been changed.
SOURCE - UNICEF, SAVE THE CHILDREN, AP CONTENT SERVICES - Attribution not required
RESTRICTIONS - Editorial use only in relation to the story
LOCATION: Damascus, Syria + Various
1. Aerial shot of Damascus, Syria
2. 00:06 - 02:00 - SOURCE: UNICEF - Various frames of Hayat, Syrian student at learning center with classmates, INTV Hayat, Hayat with her family.
Soundbites Hayat:
01:01 – 01:23
I like this center because it focuses on emotional support as much as education. If you have a problem at home for instance, and you feel you are unable to continue, they try to help you as much as possible. So, it is an educational center with emotional support.
01:24 – 01:39
My mother is educated, and she used to teach me at home all the time and reiterated that I should be ready to go back to school any day. So, I tried to study at home with her.
01:40 – 01:48
My dream future job is to become a physician, a paediatrician because I like children so much.
3. 02:01 - 04:22 - Zeinab Adam – Deputy Representative, UNICEF Syria GVs and INTV.
Soundbites Zeinab:
02:12 – 02:31
I visited an education center where there were many children that had been impacted by the escalation of violence at the beginning of the year and had been displaced in one way or the other.
02:31 – 03:05
I met a young girl called Hayat. She had been out of school because her family had been displaced. So when she came back to school, she didn't know whether she belonged. Her self-confidence in learning had been affected, but she did regain confidence and her learning picked up thanks to the wonderful teachers that she had that encouraged her but also put in place the psychosocial support that is required to accompany children in their form of learning.
03:05 – 03:20
Hayat has picked up with the education that she has missed out on. But not only that, she has gone back to the formal schooling and is now, entering grade nine.
03:20 – 03:37
When I hear back to school, it's all about hope and possibility. It's all about knowing that in every part of the country, in every part of Syria, children are walking into schools.
03:37 – 03:56
It's a fresh start and a step towards equal opportunity for every child, no matter where they live or what they went through over the last 14 years to have access to, equitable education.
03:56 – 04:17
I think it is very important that we have such strong partnerships like GPE to effectively and together make a difference for children and for the education sector in Syria.
4. 04:17 - 05:29 - SOURCE: SAVE THE CHILDREN - Various broll of Sarah, Syrian Student, at learning center and general life. INTV Sarah.
04:58 – 05:06
I wish all children can join schools and no one child is left out without learning reading and writing.
05:06 – 05:13
I like the classrooms, studying here, the teachers, the fun time we always have.
05:13 – 05:18
The school is large, spacious, safe and has a beautiful scenery. School is my life.
05:218 – 05:29
I used to be very sad before joining school and was wondering about the other children. After I joined here, I am so happy, and my life changed completely.
5. 05:29 - 06:20 - SOURCE: SAVE THE CHILDREN - Rim* – Sarah’s mother , INTV.
05:29 – 05:40
Education is very important for building a strong society, one free from illiteracy and backwardness.
05:450– 05:47
I hope Syria will be rebuilt again, that education will return to all regions of Syria, that no children will be denied education, and that we will live in safety and peace.
05:47 – 06:03
Education mainly secures psychological relief for my daughter. It makes her an active member in society; she can even help me confront the pressures of life and does not go through the same situation we had in camps.
06:04 – 06:20
During the war, we had a gloomy look to our future and education. When the educational centres reopened, we became more interested in our children joining schools and continuing their education for a brighter future.
6. INTV - Bem Tivkaa, Chief of Party, Save the Children International
06:20 – 06:44
So this program has been very significant in supporting out-of-school children. Evidently, this program has supported over 100,000 children to return back to accelerated learning programs, which is flexible at age appropriate for children who have missed out of school for quite a long time due to the crisis.
06:44 – 07:06
It is aligned with the formal school curriculum, so this had made it very significant for children who have gone through the non-formal education system to be transitioned into formal schools. Under the GPE program, over 2,000 children who have gone through the non-formal education has transitioned into the formal school.
7. SOURCE: SAVE THE CHILDREN - Broll Sarah at home with family
8. Peter McDermott, Development Director Syria, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), United Kingdom INTV
07:57-8:37
Since 2021, the Global Partnership for Education has invested more than US$46 million in education in Syria. This has provided emergency support for children affected by conflict, displacement and crises. It has helped create safe-learning spaces, train teachers and help children catch up. Going forward, GPE has a key opportunity to play a major role supporting the Syria’s ministry of education in priorities. This is a critical moment to help shape the future for Syria’s children.
29 September 2025
