S is for Syria by Arandeep Degun
As reported earlier this year in the The Economist: “After eight years of civil war, Syria’s education system is a wreck. Nearly three million school-aged children, a third of the total, do not attend classes. That is, in part, because 40% of schools are unusable. Some have been damaged in the fighting; others are being used by armed groups or the displaced. The schools that still function are crammed and there are fewer teachers to run them—around 150,000 have fled or been killed. Unsurprisingly, students are way behind. Ten-year-olds in Syria read like five-year-olds in developed countries, according to the aid agency Save the Children. [As a direct result,] the literacy rate has plummeted.
The consequences are stark. Syrians lack the skills needed to rebuild their country or to escape the grinding poverty in which 80% of them live. The uneducated are easier prey for jihadists and militiamen offering money and a bit of power, or for Bashar al-Assad’s regime, which will gladly give them a spot in the army. Shattered schools are yet another reason for more affluent Syrians to leave the country—and for those who have fled to stay abroad. ‘We’ll see the catastrophic results over the next decade as children become adults,’ says Riyad al-Najem of Hurras, a charity that supports over 350 schools in Syria.”
As noted by www.aa.com, however: “On a positive note of hope, as the conflict in Syria enters its ninth year, a generation born and raised in an environment of conflict continues to hold on to education despite tough conditions. While conflict, displacement and violence have become part of the daily life in Syria, children hold steadfast to hope for a brighter future in the Shuhada Miskan school located in the Yazi Bagh refugee camp in Syria's northwestern Azaz region. Iman Mustafa Zaydan from the Anadolu Agency, a class teacher at the school, related that her students enjoy education despite all odds. The school teaches around 350 students until sixth grade in containers and tents.” Certainly, a hopeful example. Like children of their age all over the world these, children are full of hope when it comes to their future dreams. These children and their families are not victims, they are survivors.
And UNICEF.com reports: “Against all odds, 4.9 million Syrian children continue to have access to education despite the long years of war, violence and displacement. ‘Massive funding from donors, unprecedented generosity from host governments and communities; relentless work from heroic teachers and the determination of Syrian children and their families have helped millions of Syrian children get an education,’ said Geert Cappelaere, UNICEF Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. Nearly 90 percent of children who have access to education are in public schools, both in Syria and in neighboring countries. In Lebanon and Jordan, Syrian children have been able to join their local peers in public schools. However, huge challenges remain. The seven-year long conflict has caused 2.8 million children to miss out on their education. Some of these children have never been to school, while others have missed out on up to seven years of learning, making it extremely difficult for them to catch up.
Appeals have been made to world leaders by respective world organizations not to give up on the children and youth who have already been through so much. Continued, flexible, unconditional and long-term funding to the education sector is needed to improve existing systems and scale up alternative options for children and youth to engage in quality learning. But generosity alone will not bring an end to the Syria crisis. The protection and needs of children should be the priority for decision makers and those fighting on the ground.”
We should not forget that Children are our Future!
To wrap up, watch a powerful one-minute video clip.
Recommended reading: https://www.mercycorps.org/articles/jordan-syria/second-chance-future-syrias-lost-generation
The article above has been compiled from the sources below:
- https://www.freeworldmaps.net/asia/syria/location.html
- https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2019/03/14/syrias-broken-schools-will-make-it-difficult-to-fix-the-country
- https://www.aa.com.tr/en/education/syrian-children-hold-on-to-education-despite-challenges-/1453447
- https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/nearly-5-million-syrian-children-accessing-education-despite-over-seven-years-war
Photo credits: FreeWorldMaps;
