Turkey's Diyanet Foundation (TDV) opened an elementary school in northwestern Syria’s Idlib province Wednesday.

Sultan Abdul Hamid II Elementary School, established by the TDV with the support of Pakistan’s Beyt es Selam foundation, will serve 500 students who have fled their homes due to the Assad regime’s attacks in the region. They now are living in refugee camps in the Kah village of the province near the Turkish border.

Attending the opening ceremony, TDV executive İhsan Açık said that they came to Idlib to attend the opening ceremony of the school and observe the foundation’s humanitarian aid efforts in the field.

“We spend efforts to provide education to children from kindergarten to high school. This school was here for years, but used to operate in a tent,” he told the Anadolu Agency.

He also said that they are planning to build 100 residences for the purpose of shelter for orphans and their families in Idlib until the spring and underlined that the foundation will continue its efforts to provide any humanitarian aid to those who need it in the region.

The TDV also has schools in Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Romania, Bulgaria, Somalia, Somaliland, Haiti, Pakistan, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Georgia, Mongolia and the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).