Armenian Educational Foundation logo,
GLENDALE — At its 65th Anniversary Gala, the Armenian Educational Foundation (AEF) announced plans to donate $25,000 to the Syrian Armenian Relief Fund’s telethon on February 21st, specifically to support the struggling Armenian schools in Aleppo, and $40,000 for scholarships to Syrian refugee students in Armenia.
Before the Syrian Civil War in 2011 there were 30 Armenian schools in Syria, with approximately 20,000 students. Since the onset of the war, most of the Armenian schools have been destroyed and thousands of Armenian students have been displaced from their homes.
Historically, Aleppo was a hub for Syrian-Armenians and boasted the largest Armenian community in Syria with18 of the 30 Armenian schools located there. Now, there are only 14 functioning Armenian schools in Syria of which only 9 are left in Aleppo. Schools were forced to consolidate and switch to a different teaching system— scheduling classes in multiple shifts to accommodate students from destroyed schools.
AEF understands the necessity of helping Armenian students in Syria, and aims, with the $25,000 donation, to improve the fractured education system of the country and to reintroduce normalcy into the lives of the students.
Moreover, there are currently approximately five thousand Syrian-Armenian refugee students living in Armenia and Artsakh. AEF plans to allocate $40,000 ($10,000 per year for 4 years) from its Scholarship Program to fund 10 Syrian-Armenian refugee students who attend a 4-year public university in Armenia or Artsakh.
For more information or to make a donation, please contact the AEF office at (818) 242-4154 or email aef@aefweb.org.
Source: Asbarez
Link: AEF Announces ,000 Donation to SARF & Scholarships to Syrian-Armenian Refugee Students