World Bank approves
$100 million for education

Program to increase

enrollment and enhance quality

The World Bank has approved the ‘Support to Reaching All Children with Education (RACE2)’ program. One hundred thousand additional Lebanese and Syrian refugee children aged three to 18 years old will benefit from access to education through this program.

The program will provide the Ministry of Education and Higher Education with a $100 million funding by the International Development Association (IDA). RACE2 will be implemented in the coming five years starting from 2016.

The program also aims to enhance the quality of education services through tailored training for teachers and strengthening the recipients’ education systems.

Haneen Sayed, Program Leader-Human Development at World Bank, said: “More attention will be given to the quality of education through enhancing the curricula, school construction and rehabilitation.” She said that there is a lot of strain on the infrastructure due to the Syrian refugee presence.

As part of the program, the World Bank is providing a four million dollar grant for the Results in Education for all Children Trust Fund, which is expected to attract an additional $120 million in grant financing from the international community.

“Our objective is to make sure that the out-of-school kids will not turn into a lost generation,” said Ferid Belhaj, Director of the Middle East Department at the World Bank.

Belhaj said: “Lebanon has offered the world a global public good deed. It is time for the international community to help Lebanon mitigate the heavy impact of the Syria crisis.”

The public education system has opened its doors to more than 150,000 Syrian children since the start of the Syrian war more than five years ago.

Many schools now hold double-shifts of classes on school days to accommodate the number of pupils. Still, an estimated 300,000 Syrian children living in Lebanon are not enrolled in formal schooling.

The World Bank has provided around $300 million for RACE 1, according to Sayed.