Syrian Students Begin New School Year as War Rages On
DAMASCUS (Tasnim) – With the academic year starting in Syria, thousands of Syrian students are attending classes despite the ongoing crisis in the Arab country that has left thousands of schools damaged and destroyed.
According to Tasnim dispatches, elementary schools, junior high schools, and high schools in government-controlled areas opened on Saturday upon an order by Damascus.
This is while that Takfiri terrorists have not yet allowed students to return to schools in rebel-held areas, particularly the northern city of Raqqa.
A report by the Britain-based charity Save the Children estimated that hundreds of thousands of children have not attended school in the past 5 years.
Children’s activities have been restricted because of the war, so parents believe the start of school was a chance to meet friends and have fun after a summer spent largely confined to home.
With the conflict well in its 5 year, the statistics serve as a testament to a gloomy future in which chances of Syrian children getting a basic education have been halved as terrorist groups are continuing to target schools with mortar shells across the country.
In 2014, the terrorists bombarded Akrama School in Syria's Western city of Homs, killing dozens of students.
One in every four schools is destroyed, damaged or occupied and more than 2 million children are out of school in Syria, according to estimates by UNICEF.
Syria has been gripped by civil war since March 2011 with various terrorist groups, including Daesh, currently controlling parts of it.
According to a report by the Syrian Center for Policy Research, the conflict has claimed the lives of over 470,000 people, injured 1.9 million others, and displaced nearly half of the country’s pre-war population of about 23 million within or beyond its borders.