George and Amal Clooney Pledge to Open School for Refugees

By Danielle Pope

George and Amal Clooney (Photo by François Pauletto/Corbis via Getty Images)
George and Amal Clooney (Photo by François Pauletto/Corbis via Getty Images)
The latest humanitarian cause is one close to the couples’ hearts

Just months after welcoming their twin children, George and Amal Clooney have announced their latest humanitarian project.

Via their charity, the Clooney Foundation for Justice, the pair announced plans to open seven public schools for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, as part of a $2.25 million partnership with UNICEF. With support from Google and computer company HP Inc, the move will help support formal education for Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

The partnership with UNICEF will help seven public schools to provide critical education opportunities to nearly 3,000 currently out-of-school refugee students this school year, and will also support a pilot of technology tools in these schools to advance learning outcomes for refugee children and Lebanese youth.

George and Amal have said that these children are currently at risk of being lost in society, due to no fault of their own. “Thousands of young Syrian refugees are at risk – the risk of never being productive part of society,” the couple said in a statement. “Formal education can help change that. 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.”

In response to the news, Lebanon’s Minister of Education, Marwan Hamade made the following statement, “We are delighted the Clooney Foundation has decided to support our efforts to open the doors of more public schools to ensure we can offer every child currently living in Lebanon a free education. Today’s grant from the Clooney Foundation for Justice is therefore a crucial investment in future generations in Lebanon.”

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