Access to Education for Young People Displaced by the Syrian Crisis

Learning continuity and engaging young people in supportive schooling environments are often overlooked in research, policy and aid sector responses to displacement. With increasing numbers of long-term displaced people, states and families must consider long-term planning for young people. This paper contributes to the understanding of household factors that influence whether a young person of school age displaced from Syria to Lebanon in 2010-2016 was in school or not by quantitatively analysing survey data collected by the World Bank in 2015-16. The head of household’s (HoH) years of education was shown to have the greatest effect with each additional year of HoH schooling increasing the likelihood the youth was in school by 11.5-14.8 per cent. The length of displacement increased the likelihood of the youth being in school by 1.6-2.1 percent per additional month the HoH had been in Lebanon. An increase in the HoH’s exposure to violence in Syria pre-displacement decreased the likelihood the youth was in school by 1.9-2.1 per cent. Pre-displacement socio-economic factors did not have a statistically significant effect, though this is likely due to imperfect measures. These results support identification of at-risk displaced youths in host countries to support more effective learning continuity strategies and targeted engagement in the education system.