BEIRUT, Aug. 27 (Xinhua) -- UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Director-General Audrey Azoulay said on Thursday that 159 private and public schools and 85,000 students were affected by Beirut's explosions.

An aerial view taken on August 26, 2020, shows a piano left behind in a damaged building in a neighbourhood near the Beirut port. (Photo: AFP)

"We need approximately 22 million U.S. dollars to rehabilitate destroyed walls in these schools," Azoulay said during her tour at the Port of Beirut after her visit to schools in Achrafieh, an area heavily affected by the explosions, al-Jadeed TV channel reported.

UNESCO is keen to support Lebanon's education and culture sector since "a future of a nation can only be built through schools," she noted.

Azoulay also emphasized the need to support Lebanon in the field of online education given the outbreak of COVID-19.

"We have coordinated efforts to identify needs and mobilize funds to start rehabilitation work when sanitary circumstances permit it," she said.

Two huge explosions rocked Port of Beirut at around 6:10 p.m. local time (1510 GMT) on Aug. 4, shaking buildings all over the Lebanese capital, while killing at least 183 and wounding around 6,000 others.