In this file photo, Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon Wang Kejian delivered school supplies to Syrian refugee students in a school in Beirut, Lebanon on Oct. 23, 2017. China donated 1 million U.S. dollars to the UNICEF for providing school aid to Syrian refugee students in Lebanon. (Xinhua/Li Liangyong)
The United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF) lauded Thursday China's "generous donation" that helped 86,000 school-age Syrian refugee children in Lebanon in 2017.
Tanya Chapuisat, UNICEF representative in Lebanon, voiced her appreciation at the signing ceremony of a protocol between the UN body and China on the completion of the latter's 1-million-U.S.-dollar aid project to Syrian refugee students.
In February 2017, the Chinese government provided UNICEF with financial assistance of 1 million dollars for the UN children's fund's support for the Lebanese Ministry of Education.
The funding, aimed at guaranteeing "educational coverage of all children," has been used to provide essential supplies to the refugee students, including winter clothes and stationery.
Wang Kejian, Chinese Ambassador to Lebanon who attended the ceremony, announced that the program has been completed as all the supplies had been delivered.
He also reiterated China's consistent commitment to improving the humanitarian situation of the Syrian refugees.
"In the future, the Chinese government will continue to make its own efforts to ease the humanitarian situation of the Syrian refugees and to promote a political solution to the Syrian crisis," Wang said.
Since the outbreak of the Syrian crisis in March 2011, the number of Syrian refugee school-age children and pre-school children in Lebanon has continued to increase, placing a heavy burden on Lebanese education and medical institutions.
Chapuisat said that, with the Chinese donation, the UNICEF was able to provide clothes and different types of school supplies to the Syrian refugee students, and pay school tuition fees for them.
She also pointed to the winter kits that were delivered to about 700 Syrian refugee children in the remote areas in Lebanon during the winter.
Chapuisat said this is the first time that the UNICEF has benefited from a contribution of this type to help the refugee students around the world.
"So we hope it has been a good experience as it was extremely useful for us and we want to thank you on behalf of the UNICEF," she added.
