In Ar-Raqqa, a rehabilitated school brings back hope to children
UNICEF rehabilitates school in Ar-Raqqa and brings back hope to children
After years of conflict and fighting, a sense of normalcy is slowly returning to parts of Ar-Raqqa governorate. Families are going back to safer areas hoping to rebuild their lives, despite challenging conditions. One of these areas is Debsi Faraj, a village on the eastern border of the governorate, where around 300 families have returned over the past months. Among them is 27-year-old English teacher Amira, “we came back to our home in Debsi Faraj seven months ago,” says Amira. “Our house was completely looted. The whole town was unrecognizable, it was so destroyed.” The vestiges of years of fighting can be still seen today; a public square not yet fully cleared from rubble, overturned cars blocking streets, the village’s sole ATM standing ajar with its front blasted open. Many basic have yet to restart.
Our house was completely looted. The whole town was unrecognizable, it was so destroyed.
Yet, the Debsi Faraj community persisted and getting children back to school was one of their priorities. The local school complex was partially destroyed by the fighting, so the local community provided an apartment that was turned into classrooms and children crammed into two small spaces to attend lessons. “Our children are eager to learn despite the poor learning environment in the village,” said a local school principal. Meanwhile UNICEF, with funding from the Government of Norway, got to work rehabilitating local schools in south-eastern Ar-Raqqa. “When we came to the school last September it was in a terrible state,” explains UNICEF Education Officer Osama Antabi. “The building was damaged by the fighting. I walked into a lab and found a whole row of computers riddled with bullets.” Over the following months, Debsi Faraj school and 15 others in the countryside of south-eastern Ar-Raqqa governorate were rehabilitated.
One by one, they opened their doors to students once again. The Schools were equipped with teaching materials and the students provided with school bags, stationary and textbooks. For those who have missed out on learning over the past years UNICEF also provided accelerated learning opportunities to catch-up on their education.
“There are no schools in our village and we want to go to school so our parents sent us to live with our grandparents,”
Amongst those attending accelerated learning classes is 13-year-old Naser. Even though he still has to work to support his family, he’s eager to catch up with lost years of learning. “Sometimes when I have to help my father with tending the cattle I take permission to skip a class,” says Naser. “But I keep coming back to school. I want to keep going until I graduate.”
“But I keep coming back to school. I want to keep going until I graduate.”
Sometimes when I have to help my father with tending the cattle I take permission to skip a class,
15-year-old Doua is also one of the students who came back to the school when it re-opened. Doua and her three siblings lost their father three years ago in the war and their mother died of cancer a year ago. Today, they live with their grandparents. “After all that has happened I am even more determined to finish my education,” says Doua. “This June I will do my 9th grade national exams and will complete my studies to become a nurse or a doctor. We desperately need them here.”
“This June I will do my 9th grade national exams and will complete my studies to become a nurse or a doctor. We desperately need them here.”
After all that has happened I am even more determined to finish my education,
But the work is still not yet finished; one of the school buildings at Debsi Faraj was so extensively damaged that another assessment is being undertaken to decide whether it still can be salvaged or if it needs to be torn down. Nevertheless, in a village with hundreds of children eager to go to school, the rehabilitation of half of all the schools is a strong sign of hope and renewal.
