Syrian boy wins Children’s Peace Prize for building refugee school in Lebanon

Mohamad Al Jounde (16), a teenage Syrian refugee, is the winner of the International Children’s Peace Prize 2017. Mohamad fights for the right to an education for refugee children.

Mohamad Al Jounde was just 12 years old when he decided to set up a school in the Bekaa Valley refugee camp, enlisting his relatives and volunteers to help construct the building and teach a range of subjects from English and maths to photography.

Three years on, the school boasts more than 200 students, some as young as five, several professional teachers and offers gender equality lessons and literacy classes for adult refugees.

“As Mohamad knows, Syria’s future depends on its children – and their future depends on education,” Yousafzai, now 20 and studying at Britain’s Oxford University, said at the award ceremony in The Hague where she presented the prize to Jounde.

Photo : KidsRights

Watch the video

Read the article