More than half of Syrian children out of school: Save the Children

About half of school-age children in Syria are missing out on education after nearly 14 years of civil war, Save the Children told AFP on Monday, calling for "immediate action".

The overwhelming majority of Syrian children are also in need of immediate humanitarian assistance including food, the charity said, with at least half of them requiring psychological help to overcome war trauma.

"Around 3.7 million children are out of school and they require immediate action to reintegrate them in school," Rasha Muhrez, the charity's Syria director, told AFP in an interview from the capital Damascus, adding "this is more than half of the children at school age".

While Syrians have endured more than a decade of conflict, the rapid rebel offensive that toppled president Bashar Al Assad on December 8 caused further disruption, with the UN reporting more than 700,000 people newly displaced.

"Some of the schools were used as shelters again due to the new wave of displaced people," Muhrez told AFP.

The war, which began in 2011 after Assad's brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters, has devastated Syria's economy and public infrastructure leaving many children vulnerable.