“I liked meeting new people,” said a boy from the private school. “I’ve never met anyone from Syria before,” said another.

There are now around 195,000 non-Lebanese children – nearly all Syrian – enrolled in Lebanese public schools, narrowly outnumbering the Lebanese children. The vast majority attend second-shift classes, held in the afternoons for refugees only.

“The biggest challenge for Syrian children entering the Lebanese education system is the foreign language component,”

Britain’s Department for International Development, for example, is channelling all its funds for refugee education through the Lebanese state system.

– the Lebanese children are taught most subjects in English or French, while Syrian children are taught in Arabic.

“When you are talking about humans, it cannot be solved later,” commented Omar Hchemi, director of a private school for Lebanese and Syrian children in the Bekaa Valley. “Syrians are not getting enough education in Lebanon. Education is the most important thing – or a whole generation will be lost.”