Running head: SYRIAN REFUGEES IN EGYPT

Syrian refugees in Egypt: Problems and solutions

Ahmed Hamdy
American University in Cairo

SYRIAN REFUGEES IN EGYPT

After the outbreak of the Syrian revolution that turned into a civil
war, the Syrian refugees started to flee to neighboring countries like
Jordan, Turkey, Lebanon, and Egypt. The numbers of Syrian refugees
registered with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) in Egypt have jumped from 12000 in December 2012 to145000
in December 2013 (UNHCR, 2014). Syrian refugees chose to come to
Egypt because of its welcoming nature and low cost of living. The majority
of the Syrian refugees who entered Egypt before July 2013 came from
Lebanon, and they were from the middle to upper class. They entered
Egypt without visa restrictions. They were granted tourist visa for three
months upon arrival and these visas were renewed easily after that
(Akram, Bidinger, Lang, Hites, Kuzmova & Noureddine, 2014). This
welcoming atmosphere changed after the overthrow of president Morsi in
July 2013. The severe polarization of the Egyptian political scene and the
volatility of political situation motivated massive demonstrations. These
demonstrations led to the ousting of President Mohamed Morsi. In
response to the overthrow of Morsi, Muslim Brotherhood and its
supporters organized Rabaa sit-in as well as public rallies to restore
president Morsi back to presidency. The participation of some Syrians in
these activities made the new authorities in Egypt consider them proMuslim Brotherhood. In July 2013, the temporary president, Adli Mansour,
decided that visas and security clearances have to be issued for Syrians to
enter Egypt. The security clearances are rarely issued; therefore, the
numbers of Syrian refugees who have entered Egypt have been
significantly reduced since July 2013. This tough attitude of the Egyptian

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government was accompanied by a furious media campaign against

Syrian refugees in Egypt (Ayoub & Khallaf, 2014). This media campaign
has created a very unsafe and hostile environment for the Syrian refugees
in Egypt by agitating the public opinion in Egypt against the Syrian
refugees. Consequently, this hostile atmosphere has affected the basic
needs of the Syrian refugees in Egypt. The suffering of the Syrian refugees
to acquire their basic needs have been represented in a joint needs
assessment which was conducted by UNHCR in September 2013. The
assessment relied on personal interviews with 600 Syrian refugees who
were selected randomly from the data base of UNHCR of Syrian refugees
in Egypt. The assessment revealed that 49 percent of the families have
considered leaving Egypt, and 48 percent of those who have considered
leaving Egypt are doing so due to financial hardships. Only 48 percent of
Syrian refugees in Egypt have jobs and salaries (UNHCR, 2014). Analysis
of these numbers shows that the financial problems of the Syrian refugees
in Egypt are closely connected with the difficulties to land a job. These
difficulties emerge from the 2003 law of labor. According to 2003 law of
labor, a refugee has to provide an Egyptian employer as a sponsor and
prove non-competition with the Egyptians as mandatory conditions to
obtain a work permit (Akram et al, 2014). The difficulties facing the Syrian
refugees in Egypt are not only limited to job opportunities, but also to the
education process. Although the Egyptian authorities remain allow the
Syrian refugees access to public schools, there are a lot of obstacles that
face the education process of the Syrians refugees in Egypt. Access to the
preprimary schools, over crowded classes in the public schools, accent

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barriers between Syrian students and Egyptian teachers, and unfamiliar

Egyptian curriculums are some of the obstacles that cripple the education
process of the Syrian refugee students. According to the joint needs
assessment, which was organized by the UNHCR in September 2013, only
25 percent of the families who their children have not attended to school
have related this to their financial hardships (UNHCR, 2014). Other
reasons were inability to enroll because of nationality or lack of
placement. Some parents reported that they prefer to keep their
adolescent girls at home instead of allowing them to go to school because
they fear for their security during the journey to and from school. A closer
look to these numbers reveals that security issues are a major obstacle in
front of the Syrian refugees in Egypt to access to the educational services.
These educational hardships alongside the high unemployment rates
make the lives of Syrian refugees in Egypt complicated. This challenging
situation of Syrians in Egypt requires cooperative efforts to help integrate
them more efficiently in the Egyptian community. Helping the Syrian
refugees in Egypt to create their own businesses and establishing Syrian
community schools will be the starting point to deal with the current
situation.
Helping the Syrian refugees to start their own business is the most
effective and fastest solution for their financial problems. Facing a lot of
barriers to obtain a work permits in addition to the high unemployment
rates make landing a job in Egypt for a refugee a very complicated matter.
Moreover, issuing a business permit is a much easier process than
obtaining a work permit. A lot of Syrians in Egypt have started their own

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businesses in the form of small shops and restaurants. These private

businesses have secured a good income for the owners of the businesses
in addition to a large number of job opportunities for Syrians and
Egyptians as well. Establishing private business for Syrian refugees is a
solution that will be welcomed by the Egyptian government, as it reduces
its responsibilities towards the Syrian refugees. The NGOs, the Egyptian
government and the United Nations organizations should collaborate to
implement this solution by providing the required funds and technical
support. The required funds should be long term loans with no or low
interest rates. These loans should be provided only to Syrians refugees
who want to start their own businesses in Egypt. The Egyptian
government should provide the assistance for refugees regarding the
administrative and legal requirement for investing in Egypt. The NGOs
should provide the financial experts to help the refugees choose the type
of business and the required lump sum to start it. The technical
experience of these experts and their continuous support will help the
new businesses succeed and flourish.
The establishment of Syrian community schools is an appropriate
solution for the education problems that Syrian refugees face in Egypt.
Although the Egyptian government has granted the Syrian refugees the
access to public schools, this has not provided a solution for the education
problem. Building Syrian community schools will overcome all the
difficulties that are currently obstructing the education of the Syrian
refugees in Egypt. In these Syrian community schools, the teachers and
students will be Syrians and the curriculum will be Egyptian plus extra

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Syrian coursework. This solution is administratively possible after the

government of Egypt has permitted it, 2000 students in the city of 6 th of
October are currently going to a Syrian community school (Akram et al,
2014). This school in Six of October is the only Syrian community school in
Egypt. This successful example needs to be repeated to encourage and
support the education of the Syrian refugees in Egypt. The establishment
of the new Syrian community schools should be planed according to
geographical prospective; the number and the capacities of the new
schools in any Egyptian governorate should be allocated according to the
numbers of Syrian refugees in this governorate. Fund raising campaigns
managed by NGOs, charity organizations and Egyptian government will
provide the required funds for this huge project. This fund raising
campaigns could use the media and social networks as means to promote
the Syrian community schools idea. A certain lump sum could be sit and
announce as the first stage target and share the updates with the donors
continuously. This will encourage the donors as they see that the target is
getting closer and closer. Choosing appropriate locations are as important
as the funds for the success of this Syrian community schools. The
locations of the schools could be at the districts of high concentrations of
Syrian refugees. This could make the journey to and from school within
the same neighborhood that the student lives in; therefore, a lot of the
security issues related to this journey will be eliminated. The Syrian
community inside the school will make parents less anxious to send their
girls to the schools, and will decrease fearing of violence and security
issues. This kind of solution could overcome the accent barriers between

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Syrian students and Egyptian teachers, and this solution can also cover
the differences between Egyptian and Syrian curriculums; as the students
will take their education from Syrian teachers which will facilitate the
communication between the student and the teacher. On the other hand,
building Syrian community schools seems to isolate the Syrian refugees
from their surrounding Egyptian community. This could be the major
disadvantage of this solution. Analyzing this solution from another angle
could provide us with opposite results. Building the Syrian community
schools will let Syrian refugees in Egypt acquire a basic need to maintain
their existence in the Egyptian community. Without access to education,
Syrian refugees could consider leaving Egypt to other countries. By
applying this solution, lives of Syrian refugees in Egypt would be much
easier, and this schools could be merged and accept Egyptian students
also in the future. This will help to integrate Syrian refugees into the
Egyptian community in the near future. The Syrian community schools will
make the children more comfortable in a much familiar environment and
will reduce the fear of the Syrian families over the security of their
children who go to schools.
The establishment of private businesses for Syrian refugees and
Syrian community schools will make the integration of the Syrian refugees
into the Egyptian society easier. By establishing their private business,
Syrian refugees will overcome the problems that face them on the
economic level if the proper fund could be raised. Managing their private
business in the Egyptian community will not only help the Syrian refugees

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with their financial needs, but also will help to integrate them to the
Egyptian society in the near future. The new Syrian community schools
will facilitate the adaptation of the Syrians refugee students to the
Egyptian curriculums and will remove a lot of the security concerns. These
advantages will make the education process feasible for Syrian children in
this stage, and in the near future these schools could provide its services
to both Syrian and Egyptian students.

References
Ayoub, M., & Khallaf, S. (2014). Syrian Refugees in Egypt: Challenges of a
Politically Changing Environment. Cairo: American University in
Cairo Center for Migration and Refugee Studies. Retrieved from
http://schools.aucegypt.edu/GAPP/cmrs/Documents/Final_Syrian
%20refugees.pdf
Akram, S., M., Bidinger, S., Lang, A., Hites, D., Kuzmova, Y., & Noureddine, E.
(2014). Protecting Syrian Refugees: Laws, Policies, and Global

Responsibility Sharing. Boston, Massachusetts: Boston University

School

of

Law.

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from

https://www.bu.edu/law/central/jd/programs/clinics/internationalhuman-rights/documents/FINALFullReport.pdf
United Nations High Commissioner of Refugees (UNHCR), (2014). 2014
Syria Regional Response Plan: Strategic Overview. Retrieved

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