Children of Syria’s E. Ghouta dream of school

By Mohamad Misto and Zeynep Tufekci

DAMASCUS, Syria (AA) - Children of Syria’s Eastern Ghouta, a suburb of Damascus that has been under a crippling regime siege since 2012, are dreaming of the day when they can play with their toys and go back to real schools.

Living under daily bombardment by regime forces and deprived of the basic needs of life for the past five years, they are using damaged buildings, mosques and houses as schools to pursue their education.

“We have no books and those we have are not enough,” Abu Mohammed, a father of four, told Anadolu Agency.

“Our children are always in a panic and feel anxious,” he said.

The Syrian father said children living in the besieged area feel exhausted due to lack of food. “They have difficulties in learning because they cannot listen to the lesson,” as a result.

His 12-year-old son, Mohammed Hamis, said books and stationery were very expensive in Eastern Ghouta.

“Pencils and notebooks are very expensive. We don’t have books,” he said. “My school is located in Sakba district. That area has been under bombardment and everything is so expensive, making my father unable to send us to school.”

Home to some 400,000 civilians, Eastern Ghouta falls within a network of de-escalation zones -- set up in Syria by Turkey, Russia, and Iran -- in which acts of aggression are expressly forbidden.

-Damaged schools

Beyan, a second-grade student, said he dreams of being able to play with his toys and go to a real school instead of his current makeshift one.

Nureddin Mahmoud, 13, said he looked forward to becoming a doctor.

“I want to be able to have breakfast before going to school,” he said. “I hope that prices in the area will also go down.”

School teacher Mohammed Alshammy said almost all schools in their region were destroyed and he had to teach in houses or partially-damaged schools.

"We have many difficulties at school. Our villages and schools have been under heavy bombardment by the [Assad] regime and its allies,” Alshammy said.

“Almost 330 students are studying in one house used as a school in which only one family had been living. There is only one toilet for all those people. There are classrooms without a roof.”

Syria has been locked in a vicious civil war since early 2011, when the Bashar al-Assad regime cracked down on pro-democracy protests with unexpected ferocity.

Since then, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed and more than 10 million displaced, according to UN officials.