The United Nations says the academic year for Palestinian refugee children will start as scheduled despite a funding crisis which had threatened the schooling program.
“I am pleased to declare the 2015/16 UNRWA school year open. Students will return to school according to plan in Palestine on 24 August, in Jordan on 1 September, in Lebanon on 7 September and in Syria on 13 September,” says Pierre Krahenbuhl, head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Middle East.
“Education is a fundamental right for children everywhere in the world, and it should never have come to the point where the UNRWA school year risked being delayed because of a funding shortfall for our core budget. But it almost did,” he says in a statement.
On August 5, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon warned that a $100 million shortfall in funding for the agency had placed the new school year in jeopardy.
— AFP
Palestinian children at a school in the Gaza Strip city of Rafah. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
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