New education program for displaced Syrian children

It's estimated as many as three million Syrian children are going without an education as a direct result of the conflict raging in their homeland.

Displaced Syrian children gather in a classroom in a school that has been turned into a temporary shelter in the Qudsaya neighborhood on the outskirts of Damascus

It's estimated as many as three million Syrian children are going without an education as a direct result of the conflict raging in their homeland.

Many have fled their homes with their families and are languishing in refugee camps in neighbouring countries like Lebanon, Iraq and Jordan.

The United Nations education agency, UNESCO, says this trend must be halted.

It's launched a new program which aims to give Syrian children still in the country, as well as those who've fled, access to education.

Louise Haxthausen is the senior coordinator for crisis response in the office of the director general at UNESCO.

She told Darren Mara about the education gap that now exists in Syria.

(Click on the audio tab above to hear the full interview)