Baladi News – Daraa Countryside (Muhannad Hourani)
Over the past five years, thousands of children in Daraa countryside dropped out of their schools because the Syrian government deliberately targeted children and even tortured them. Another reason of leaving schools is that they have turned into havens for families escaping from hot battlefronts in the area.
After quitting their schools, these children are absorbed in the labor market due to poor economic conditions of low-income families, especially that most Syrians have gone below poverty line according to economic reports.
“Omar”, a 12 years old boy from Daraa, lives in difficult circumstances after becoming the only supporter of his family, a situation that turned his life into a dull routine of hard working and sleeping, which is not normal for a little boy.
After losing his father due to an airstrike conducted by regime forces that targeted his family's house one year ago, Omar had to leave school and go in search for a source of income to support his mother and young siblings.
He is currently working at a restaurant in Busra Al-Sham in the eastern countryside of Daraa for 500 Syrian Pounds a day, which barely meets the basic needs of his Family.
“My job duties are limited to cleaning tables and chairs, delivering orders, and dish washing. In addition, I work for at least 12 hours a day”, Omar says to Baladi News.
Omar also adds that life has become tough for him, and all that he wishes is to return to school along with his friends whom he misses.
Omar has registered his younger siblings at a committee that sponsors orphans in Daraa. However, the donations of the committee are too little to cover life expenses.
According to a UNICEF report, 2.4 million children in Syria alone could not attend school. The organization also revealed that 8850 schools in Syria, Iraq, Yemen, and Libya had been either destroyed or heavily damaged, and that thousands of teachers fled these countries.