As of 2018, only 55 percent of about 1.5 million school-age Syrian children in Turkey are going to school. School drop-out rates increase as children go into high school although completion of education is mandatory in the country. Among the refugee population, this is largely due to language barriers, discrimination, financial difficulties, child labor, and child marriage. Although refugee children under temporary protection have a right to free education, every aspect from school registration to performance to peer relationships poses obstacles for them.

That is why Blossom Hill Fellow Leyla Atik has prioritized education as part of her refugee child protection program. At the start of this school year, she launched a schooling campaign that assisted with registration, raised parents’ awareness on education and nutrition, and distributed gift cards to help with school supplies.