The United Kingdom will donate around $7 million to the Ministry of Education (MoE) to buy schoolbooks for some 300,000 public school students, including Syrian and Palestinian refugees. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the British Embassy and the MoE on May 22.

Education Minister Elias Bou Saab said that the textbooks will be available in schools as of the next academic year.

“The crisis that hit us with the refugees was unexpected, and the ministry was not prepared,” he said. “Our policy has changed. We want to be engaged and assume the responsibility and part of this responsibility is to make sure that what is supposed to be delivered for free is actually so,” he said
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During a January visit to the country, UK International Development Secretary Justine Greening said that schoolchildren will get a boost to their education under a new UK initiative. The scheme will ensure that every child aged between six and 15 who attends public school has a set of textbooks covering key academic subjects.