Syria: Schools and Education

SYRIA - Schools in Syria have turned into fighting grounds or homes for internally displaced people, as the conflict rages on into its fourth year. UNICEF reported that one in every five schools in Syria has been destroyed. CGR is helping to provide aid and educational assistance to a growing number of children who are displaced and refugees.

Children are forced to work to help provide for their families, are recruited for the militia or are advised to stay in doors to avoid harm. Some children have been out of school for three years and are forgetting even what they previously studied. Rayan works for a ministry in Syria whose sole initiative is to provide education and trauma therapy to children. She explains how many of the children have lost their fathers and brothers to the war.

While the teachers provide the children with the opportunity to learn English, Arabic and math, the teachers also believe it is important to teach the children not to have hatred or suspicion of one another but learn to love each other.

“Children feel like they are rejected.” Rayan said. “But I say, ‘You are children. God loves you. You are not the reason for what has happened; you are the hope of Syria.’”

Sara, another teacher in Syria spoke of the children’s psychological conditions. “Children in these three years are raised in a really hard situation,” she said. “They know all the types of weapons and they know all of the parties that are fighting, and kids at this age must know something else.”

“All their games are guns and tanks and they are really in the trauma of war,” Sara said. “They know nothing except war and blood and fighting.”

Children are being used as propaganda in the war. Images of them holding guns can be seen on the web as well as video clips that show preteen boys involved in the combat. International Law sets 18 as the minimum age for participation in direct hostilities, but the Human Rights Watch has interviewed many children between the ages of 14 and 18 who are involved in the conflict.

Rayan says, “We have so many kids that are growing up with the sounds of war. These kids — they shouldn’t have to listen to that. They should have a place that is peaceful and secure and not have to worry about the war.”

The reason Rayan continues in her ministry to children in Syria is because “we want to show them that we are always available for them. We are standing with them.”

CGR is partnering with other organizations throughout the region to not let this generation of children be forgotten.