UNESCO and the Qatari foundation “Education Above All” have pledged to allocate $10 million to help rebuild schools that had been damaged by the Beirut Port explosion.
“I visited shattered schools and classrooms in Beirut right after the blast. Faced with this traumatic experience of loss for students, their teachers, and families, our responsibility is to restore learning as quickly as possible and to rebuild the damaged schools,” issued Stefania Giannini, UNESCO’s assistant director-general for education.
The project was launched last Tuesday and aims to re-build 55 schools, 20 technical and vocational schools, as well as three universities with the help of the Qatar Fund for Development. That’s 78 educational institutions that will be rebuilt to ensure that thousands of students could continue their education.
According to a statement released earlier by both organizations, the work to rebuild has already started in around 20 percent of the schools, which should re-open between November 2020 and February 2021 depending on the extent of the damage.
The devastating August 4th explosion, which caused the death of more than 200 people and injured thousands, impacted the education sector as well by causing partial or complete damage to approximately 200 schools in the neighboring areas.
“As the UN agency designated to co-ordinate this rehabilitation effort, UNESCO is committed to ensuring a rapid and comprehensive educational recovery. Thanks to the partnership between Education Above All Foundation and UNESCO, we will ensure that students find their way back to repaired schools. This is our promise to the children and youth of Beirut,” added Giannini.
