Baladi News - Media
For the past seven weeks Diyaa’s 20-minute journey to school has been taking two hours. If he’s lucky, he hitchhikes part of the way, the rest he has to go on foot.
Recent local restrictions on transporting students to schools teaching the national accredited curriculum in north-eastern Syria’s Hassakeh and Qamishli mean that 15-year-old Diyaa, and thousands of other students, must either go through a long - and sometimes dangerous - journey to school or stop going to a school of their choosing.
“I am wasting a lot of time on the road going to school and coming back. Many times, my friends and I arrive late to school or home because we can’t find transportation,” says Diyaa. “The cost of transportation, when we find it, has also become very high.”
Diyaa’s journey to school and continuing his education, has not been easy. He was displaced twice in one year seeking safety when the fighting got close to home and the school in his village was destroyed during the 7-year conflict in Syria.
“Despite all of this I never dropped out of school. I go to school 25km away now but I know that learning is important for my future.” Diyaa
Since the restrictions came in place end of September this year, tens of thousands of children in more than 366 schools in Hassakeh have been affected. Vehicles, including school buses and private cars, have been prevented from crossing checkpoints if they are carrying school children going to schools teaching the nationally accredited curriculum. Since the restrictions started, more than 10,000 students have not been able to attend their schools daily.
For Diyaa, who goes to formal school in the morning and to remedial classes in the afternoon, it means that he leaves home at 6:00AM and returns home at 4:00 in the afternoon. “Sometimes I am lucky and find a car to take me back to my village, sometimes I’m not and have to stay at my aunt's that night,” he says.
UNICEF is supporting education in Al-Hasakeh governorate through the rehabilitation of 22 schools and installation of 71 pre-fabricated classrooms. 619 children have benefitted from curriculum B (an accelerated-learning programme allowing children who missed on some educational years to catch up with their peers), and 5166 from the self-learning program. Additionally, 3206 teachers have been benefiting from training on active learning and curriculum B. UNICEF has provided school bags to 6800.
Source: Relief Web