Turkey schooling almost 79,000 Syrian children

By Ilkay Guder and Enes Duran

ANKARA

Almost 79,000 Syrian children are being educated in Turkey’s refugee centers, the country’s deputy prime minister said on Wednesday.

Veysi Kaynak was speaking to Anadolu Agency in Ankara, publicizing latest official figures about refugees’ conditions.

Turkey hosts the largest number of Syrian refugees in the world, and so far has spent more than more than $20-$25 billion on their care, according to Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim.

Kaynak said over 13,600 teachers -- 12,630 from Arab states, the remainder Turkish -- had been educating 78,824 Syrian children and teenagers in kindergartens, primary schools and high schools at temporary refugee centers.

The schools give lessons in mathematics, sciences, social sciences, computing as well as language courses in Turkish, English and Arabic, Kaynak said.

He highlighted that an around 133,400 Syrian students were being educated in state schools run by the Ministry of National Education across Turkey.

Kaynak also said Turkey had established just over 2,000 vocational training courses for adult refugees; so far just under 222,900 trainees had graduated in hairdressing, sewing, weaving, handicrafts, computing as well as languages.

“Briefly, in temporary shelter centers … education, health, security and religious services are provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” he added.

Syria has remained locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, more than 250,000 people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN figures.