- Title: SYRIA-CHILDREN OF WAR Syria conflict keeps 2.8 million children out of school
- Date: 3rd November 2014
- Summary: ALEPPO, SYRIA (NOVEMBER 1, 2014) (VIDEO OBTAINED BY REUTERS) VARIOUS OF CHILDREN IN CLASSROOM YOUNG BOY SELLING DOUGH-BASED PASTRY SITTING ON PAVEMENT YOUNG BOY PICKING UP TRAY OF DOUGH-BASED PASTRY, WALKING YOUNG BOY CARRYING TRAY OF DOUGH-BASED PASTRY, CROSSING STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) UNIDENTIFIED YOUNG SYRIAN BOY SELLING DOUGH-BASED PASTRY ON STREET, SAYING: "In the morning I go to al-Shaar to sell the pastry, I don't go to school and I give my father the money. I sell the pastries for money and I earn five, ten (Syrian pounds - US 0.03-0.06 dollars)." VARIOUS OF YOUNG BOYS SELLING CIGARETTES AT STREET STALL (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) AYMAN, YOUNG SYRIAN BOY SELLING CIGARETTES AT STREET STALL, SAYING: "My name is Ayman, I am nine years old and I am in the first grade at school. I used to go to school but my father would yell because of the explosions that were happening, so I started to work this job." AYMAN ARRANGING CIGARETTES BEFORE SELLING HEDAYA NASSER, MEMBER OF ORGANISATION ASSISTING CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THEIR STUDIES, ENTERING OFFICE, SITTING DOWN NASSER SPEAKING TO WOMAN SITTING IN HER OFFICE (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) MEMBER OF ORGANISATION ASSISTING CHILDREN TO COMPLETE THEIR STUDIES, HEDAYA NASSER, SAYING: "I believe the reason children are leaving schools at the rate we are witnessing on the street is due to the war we are living through. This war has degraded the economic situation and it is my opinion that parents who find the resources to provide for their family would not prevent their children from going to school. Additionally, at the root of this is a social problem that has existed since before the revolution. It is the idea that knowledge and education do not put food on the table. There is also a lack of legal supervision and there is no one trying to solve this problem from its root, no one is holding parents who put their children through this accountable and no one is really reaching out to these children. There is a large number of children that when asked, 'would you go back to school?' would say 'yes'. They want to return to school, but we are not trying to fix this problem." YOUNG BOYS STANDING AROUND MOHAMED, A YOUNG SYRIAN BOY SELLING CORN ON STREET MOHAMED, CORN SELLER, STANDING ON STREET, CUSTOMER APPROACHES (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) YOUNG SYRIAN BOY SELLING CORN ON STREET, MOHAMED, SAYING: "My name is Mohamed and I don't go to school. I am helping my family by selling corn. I make 500 (Syrian pounds - US 3.03 dollars) per day. The most important thing for us is to stay alive." MOHAMED NEXT TO LARGE PAN WITH CORN IN BOILING WATER
- Embargoed: 18th November 2014 12:00
- Keywords:
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVA8132TXLW299MIL2WXHVPXVRAC
- Story Text: The three-and-a-half-year-old conflict in Syria is preventing 2.8 million children from getting an education and has destroyed or damaged more than 3,400 schools, an international children's charity said earlier this year.
Overall enrolment in Syrian schools has halved from almost 100 percent since the crisis started, Save the Children said in a September report, adding the country now had the second worst rate of school attendance in the world.
The charity said education in Syria was now "one of the deadliest pursuits" for children and teachers, as schools were often hit by shelling and air strikes. Many damaged schools have been occupied for military purposes, it added.
On the streets of Aleppo, one of the cities most heavily damaged during the fighting, young boys carry trays of food for sale or man street stalls selling anything from cigarettes to baked goods.
Parents have been forced to pull their children out of school and put them on the street to make money in order to survive.
"In the morning I go to al-Shaar to sell the pastry, I don't go to school and I give my father the money. I sell the pastries for money and I earn five, ten (Syrian pounds - US 0.03-0.06 dollars)," said one boy.
The conflict, which began as a peaceful protest movement and turned into civil war after a government crackdown, has killed more than 190,000 people and reduced entire districts of Syria's main cities to ruins.
Some three million Syrians have left as refugees, more than half of them children, and a further 3.5 million are uprooted within the country.
Save the Children said half the children it surveyed in northern Syria were 'rarely or 'never' able to concentrate in class. In another study it carried out, teachers identified more than half the children as being easily scared and 40 percent as frequently unhappy.
"I am nine-years-old and I am in the first grade at school. I used to go to school but my father would yell because of the explosions that were happening, so I started to work this job," a young boy named Ayman said as he manned a stall selling cigarettes in Aleppo.
Syria's economy is shrinking fast as industrial and agricultural output falls, leaving almost two thirds of the population in extreme poverty, according to a United Nations (UN) sponsored report released in May.
The study, conducted by the Damascus based-Syrian Centre for Policy Research and commissioned by the UN and International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates a 40 percent contraction in GDP since the start of the conflict in 2011.
Almost half of Syria's five million labour force is unemployed.
"I believe the reason children are leaving schools at the rate we are witnessing on the street is due to the war we are living through. This war has degraded the economic situation and it is my opinion that parents who find the resources to provide for their family would not prevent their children from going to school," Hedaya Nasser, member of an organisation assisting children to complete their studies, said.
"Additionally, at the root of this is a social problem that has existed since before the revolution. It is the idea that knowledge and education do not put food on the table. There is also a lack of legal supervision and there is no one trying to solve this problem from its root, no one is holding parents who put their children through this accountable and no one is really reaching out to these children. There is a large number of children that when asked, 'would you go back to school?' would say 'yes', they want to return to school, but we are not trying to fix this problem," she added.
Syria, once a lower middle income country with a US67 billion dollar GDP before the crisis, was witnessing expanding investments and fast growth, but has now been transformed into a country "of poor people".
Three in every four Syrians lived in poverty at the end of 2013 and more than half of its nearly 20 million people, many displaced or refugees abroad, pauperised and survived in extreme poverty.
"I am helping my family by selling corn. I make 500 (Syrian pounds - US 3.03 dollars) per day. The most important thing for us is to stay alive," said Mohamed, a young boy selling food on the streets of Aleppo.
Meanwhile, Syrian children who escaped to other countries are also missing out on education, with one in 10 refugee children across the region estimated to be working.
The strain their presence is putting on school resources in host countries has led to "disturbing" rates of abuse, bullying and corporal punishment, Save the Children said in its report.
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