Actor George Clooney is slated to help thousands of Syrian refugee children get an education after it was announced that his foundation will help fund seven public schools in Lebanon.
The Clooney Foundation for Justice announced that it will be partnering with Google, UNICEF and HP to help bring education to more than 3,000 refugee kids, releasing a statement on Monday that offered up some key details about the initiative.
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The $2.25 million partnership will provide “critical education opportunities” to kids who are currently not receiving an education, while helping integrate technology for both refugees and children living in Lebanon, according to the statement.
While the money won’t go toward opening new schools, it will help extend school hours so that teachers and supplies will be available for refugee kids. Considering educational constraints, Lebanese schools run on two shifts — one in the morning that accommodates Lebanese kids and a second shift for refugees later on in the day, CNN reported.
George Clooney and his wife, Amal, said that their efforts are aimed at helping make refugees productive members of society by meeting their basic educational needs. Considering the influx of refugees into Lebanon, their effort will help both Syrian children as well as Lebanese kids who might be suffering from a lack of resources due to the refugee crisis.
“Thousands of young Syrian refugees are at risk — the risk of never being a productive part of society. Formal education can help change that,” the couple said in a statement. “That’s our goal with this initiative. We don’t want to lose an entire generation because they had the bad luck of being born in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
According to UNICEF, there are 200,000 Syrian refugee kids in Lebanon who are not attending school and who risk being a “lost generation” if a “sense of normalcy” isn’t provided to them. The Clooney effort is just one attempt to help remedy this situation.
“We must ensure that we do not fail those most vulnerable victims who have managed to flee the carnage in Syria,” David Pressman, executive director of the Clooney Foundation for Justice, said in a statement. “It is our hope that the refugee children who will soon start school through this initiative will have a chance to contribute to building a more peaceful and just world and, hopefully, one where those responsible for these grave crimes are held to account.”
As Faithwire previously reported, Amal Clooney has spoken out against ISIS in the past and has defended the Yazidi community in Iraq and Syria — just one minority group that the radical Islamic terror group has targeted.