63 pct Syrian children in Turkey attend school

By Selma Kasap and Tugcenur Yilmaz

ANKARA (AA) - Some 63 percent Syrian children in Turkey attend school, the education minister said on Wednesday.

Ismet Yilmaz made the remarks during a protocol signing ceremony for an additional €160 million- ($187 million) grant to the “Education for All in Times of Crisis II” project under “the Financial Assistance Program for Refugees in Turkey".

Christian Berger, the head of the EU delegation to Turkey, and Roland Siller, member of the Management Committee at (KfW) Development Bank, were among the attendees of the ceremony.

The grant will be used for the construction of 60 reinforced concrete schools as a part of the EU-funded project, Yilmaz said.

Nearly 215 schools, including 60 prefabricated schools and 155 reinforced concrete schools, will be established at the end of the project, Yilmaz added.

Over 5,000 classrooms will be established and education will be imparted to 153,000 Syrian students.

There are more than 3.5 million Syrians under temporary protection in Turkey, the minister said, adding over 970,000 of them are of school-going age.

He noted that as of May 21, 2018, more than 660,000 Syrian students in Turkey have been provided education.

"We give education to Syrians of school-going age in Ministry-affiliated schools," Yildirim said.

Enrollment in primary school is at 100 percent, 50 percent in secondary schools, and around 22 percent in high school, he said.