Britons urged to sign #UpForSchool and help Syrian refugee children
Children in conflicts, Education in emergencies
Tom Fletcher asked people to put pressure on world leaders
The British public were urged today to help Syrian refugee children get an education by signing the #UpForSchool Petition.
The plea came from Tom Fletcher, the former UK Ambassador to Lebanon and now聽Director of Global Strategy for the Global Business Coalition for Education.
Tom appeared on the BBC国产视频檚 flagship radio news show Today, which has more than seven million listeners each week. He said world leaders should back a plan to get one million refugee children into school聽in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey.
Speaking about the growing refugee crisis in the Middle East that is spreading into Europe, he added: 国产视频淭his is not a crisis that we suddenly discovered over the summer. This is something that has been growing for almost five years.
国产视频淥ne in three people in Lebanon now is a refugee. So the Lebanese are really struggling and they国产视频檝e gone through many of the questions that we国产视频檙e facing now in the UK.国产视频
The plans to help one million children 国产视频 published by the charity 国产视频 in conjunction with A World at School and GBC-Education 国产视频 were written after consultation with the governments of Jordan, Turkey and Lebanon.
The three reports 国产视频 one for each of the countries, which all border Syria 国产视频 warn that a lack of donor funding is leaving vulnerable children out of classrooms and at risk of child labour, early marriage, exploitation and extremism.
Tom told the Radio 4 programme that the United Nations General Assembly was meeting in a few days to determine the Sustainable Development Goals for the next 15 years.
Hear the full interview (accessible in UK and most other countries)
He said: 国产视频淲e国产视频檙e looking for people to back the #UpForSchool Petition to put pressure on these world leaders to provide the resource for this plan. It国产视频檚 backed by the British government, it国产视频檚 backed by the UN envoy Gordon Brown, it国产视频檚 backed by business.国产视频
The petition is a youth-led campaign that has been signed by more than nine million people and it will be handed in to the UN General Assembly. It calls on the international community to keep its promise to get every child around the world into school and learning.
Tom Fletcher talks to school students in Lebanon
Asked about measures to help end the Syrian conflict 国产视频 now in its fifth year 国产视频 Tom said: 国产视频淭his isn国产视频檛 about just putting bombs into this problem, it国产视频檚 about putting books in people国产视频檚 hands.
国产视频淲e need to get hope to those kids who would otherwise be coming in our direction, hungry and angry and without hope and easy prey. If we don国产视频檛 put books in their hands someone else will put swords in their hands. It国产视频檚 as simple as that.国产视频
He told the British listeners that the UK had done a lot during his time as ambassador in Beirut to help refugee children.
Tom added: 国产视频淭here are kids going to school today in Lebanon and across the region who have been kitted out with British textbooks. They国产视频檙e only going to school because of the British people.国产视频
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