By Dianna Devito and Raya Meziad
The Start of the Syrian Civil War
The Syrian Civil War started on the 15th
of March in 2011. Pro-democracy protests led by students broke out in the city
of Deraa. Many were arrested, some were
tortured and punished because of anti-government slogans they posted on school
walls (Rodgers, 2016). Police forces
killed several people by opening fire on demonstrators. The students’ families were outraged which
lead to more protests followed by many demanding President Assad resign
(Rodgers, 2016). The government’s
violent approach only made protestors angrier. Protests grew and spread to different cities
which later led to a bigger political conflict.
It split the country into two major groups: Assad’s supporters, and rebels.
The Syrian Civil War influenced many to
make life changing choices. Many people
were injured or even killed. The war
caused some Syrians to flee the country in search of a new home that would be
safer and allow them to live fuller lives. However, not many Syrians could afford to
emigrate. Staying in Syria forced citizens
to get accustomed to the terrible circumstances and limited resources they had
there. At this time in Syria, there was
shortage of food and very limited and expensive internet and electricity, which
greatly influenced the lives of the citizens.
Life During the War
The Syrian Civil War has been going on for almost
seven years now. The daily life of
Syrian citizens has come to a halt as communities have been destroyed. Ahmed Mjuahid, a Syrian man from the city of
Darayya, told the New York Times “there are children who have been born in these five years who don’t know
the taste of fruit”. Citizens have gotten used to the sound of
bombs going off on a daily basis. But
when a war goes on for as long as the Syrian Civil War has, the rest of the the
world starts to get used to it as well. Those
who are not directly affected by the war “grow tired of the photographs of the
dead, the smashed hospitals and destroyed schools, tired of the statistics on
hunger and rape and how many shells have landed in civilian areas”. Its not that the rest of the world no longer
cares, but that we simply begin to forget that there are still people
struggling to survive in Syria.
Many youths in Syria are beginning to get jobs as their families are not
able to afford their school tuition.
Many are also forced to get a job if a parent dies from war actions to
bring in income to help their family. In
unfortunate cases where both parents are killed, students can no longer afford
their school tuition and have to leave school completely to work.
An
elementary school in Aleppo, Syria, damaged in fighting. Five years of civil
war has put Syrians’ lives on hold. Credit Jerome Sessini/Magnum Photos (The
New York Times)
Education in Syria After the War
The education in Syria became drastically
limited due to the lack of teachers as many professional educators have moved
to safer cities in Syria or outside of Syria.
This left many cities without experienced teachers and forced schools to
close. Good schools located in the
center of big cities were destroyed (Dewan, 2016). Today Syria has descended to the second worst
attendance rate in the world, with 2.8 million children out of school from an
almost 100% enrollment rate prior to the start of the war. The limited electricity and heating in all of
Syria forced schools too close as well. In
addition, no school trips were organized as it was unsafe to take children
outside of school territories. Outdoor
classes, such as science classes, generally held outdoors, were forbidden incase
of a shell going off. This limited the
education and progress of Syrian students (Dewan, 2016).
Unfortunately, even with such percussions,
schools are still not safe due to the unpredicted destinations of shells proven
by a previous attack on a school in northwest Syria. This attack leaded to the
death of 35 people, 20 of them being children (Dewan, 2016). “More than 4,000 schools have been destroyed in the war, and children
risk their lives daily in trying to attend lessons” (Hussein, 2014). With smaller school buildings and limited teachers,
classes became as big as 40 students per room.
In some cities, children of different ages and levels were also forced
to study together, which hindered progression of older students. Many families are not able to afford school
necessities for their children, such as notebooks, pens and backpacks. However, organization such as UNICEF donate school
supplies in order to aid families in need (Dewan, 2016). But only main subjects were provided that
being; Arabic, English, French, mathematics and science. Subjects like art, music and physical
education are no longer provided in Syrian schools because of the limited
budget. Because of this, there has been
a decrease in children’s creativity. In
addition to all of this, even when students attend classes many of them are not
able to focus and concentrate in class, due to problem at home which arise from
stress of the war, or even the battle like noises happening outside of their
classroom windows (Dewan, 2016).
Syrian Students in a school classroom.
Carnegie-Middle Eastern Center (Tam Hussein)
Keeping Education Alive
A professor from
Tishreen University in Latakia City is doing all that he can to make sure
Syrian youth are getting a good education, even during a time of war and
injustice. Professor Mohammed, along
with many other educational professionals have set up a network of 400 schools
that educate students in rebel areas of the Latakia country side (Hussein, 2014). The hardest part about keeping this school
system going is making sure it stays separate from “local rebel politics” (Hussein,
2014). Due to the lack of educators,
teachers in schools that are still up and running are not always the best
suited and don’t all come from Syria. Because
of a shortage of materials, teachers may just have students read from books
salvaged from inactive schools. It is
also hard for teachers to maintain a balance between reviewing information and
teaching new material as students are often absent and class sizes are constantly
changing (Hussein, 2014).
Syrian students
struggle with even making it to school each day due to the threats of the war
but most students understand the importance of education and want to attend
school. “It is clear also that these pupils have lost any semblance of what
normality means and know the facts of war better than what civilian life
actually is” (Hussein, 2014).
Students also have feelings of abandonment as their lives have been
drastically changed due to the effects of the war.
Higher Education for Syrian Refugees
Higher Education for Syrians is almost
unattainable. The Institute of International Education (IIE) estimates that
there are are as many as 450,000 Syrian refugees between the ages of 18 to 22 years
old who are not enrolled in higher education (Redden, 2015). The reason for this? When most people think
about how they can best help refugees, they think about providing food, water,
and shelter; not about giving them the opportunity to go to college (Redden,
2015). Many college-aged Syrian refugees
face similar problems to those in primary and secondary school in Syria in that
they simply cannot afford it. High
tuition fees, the cost of living, and the inability to travel “impede many refugees’ ability to enroll in higher
education” (Redden, 2015). Many
countries who are housing and supporting Syrian refugees are creating
scholarships so that refugees still have the opportunity to attend college. The European Union has spent almost $13.5
million in scholarships and higher education courses for Syrian Refugees living
in the Middle East (Redden, 2015).
Higher education opens up many opportunities, so giving Syrian refugees
the chance at getting an education can potentially lead them to jobs and
careers in the future.
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