TURKEY: Syrian girls go back to school in Turkish border town of Reyhanli

Record ID: 276537

  • Title: TURKEY: Syrian girls go back to school in Turkish border town of Reyhanli
  • Date: 18th September 2013
  • Summary: REYHANLI, TURKEY (SEPTEMBER 18, 2013) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF ENTRANCE OF HIGH SCHOOL FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES SCHOOL BANNER VARIOUS OF TEACHER TEACHING MATHEMATICS TO CLASS DIRECTOR OF THE FREE SYRIA SCHOOL, USAMEDDIN SHATTIN, WITH A STUDENT SIGN ON WALL READING 'FREE SYRIA SCHOOL' (SOUNDBITE) (Arabic) DIRECTOR OF THE FREE SYRIA SCHOOL, USAMEDDIN SHATTIN, SAYING: "The school
  • Embargoed: 3rd October 2013 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Turkey
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Conflict,General,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA3E8K5NQWBGJIJLKBM6GF2JFQC
  • Story Text: A volunteer school in the Turkish border town of Reyhanli provides primary and high school education for Syrian students sheltering in Turkey after they fled their war-torn country.
    Director of the school, Usameddin Shattin says they have 350 students receiving primary and high school education and students are getting used to a difference in teaching methods and approaches.
    "The school welcomed approximately 300 primary and high school students last year. The education was based on an adjusted Syrian curriculum. The methods of teaching have changed between us here and in Syria. In Syria, the relationship between the administration and the teachers and students was strict. Here the relationship is more democratic, we have more friendly relations between ourselves as teachers and even with the children. This year we have had more students. We welcomed 350 students," Shattin told Reuters Television on Wednesday (September 18).
    History teacher Mariam Sellem said teachers had to prepare their own syllabus for the students, some of whom faced a myriad of problems since fleeing their homes.
    "Students in general are facing a lot of problems here after fleeing Syria, especially psychologically. We are providing them with basic education, many of our schools are not funded and so a lot of the education now depends on the teacher, much more than the tools we often use to help teachers," she said.
    A 14-year old student said the new school gave them more freedoms.
    "This school is extremely different from the one that I used to go to when I was in Syria. We are free here. We can talk about everything we want to. You cannot do that in Syria. For example you cannot make any negative comments about the president. You cannot even say a single word. It's not allowed. You have to love President Bashar al-Assad. So it's very different here. You can do whatever you want," said student Cudin Qoueddeb.
    Turkey has long been one of Assad's most vocal critics and has been a staunch supporter of the rebels fighting against him. It has spent around 2 billion USD sheltering Syrian refugees, according to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan.
    The country is sheltering more than a quarter of the 2 million Syrians who have fled the fighting since March 2011. The United Nations says more than 4 million people have been displaced inside Syria.
    The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says more than 110,000 people have been killed in the country's crisis. The number of refugees from Syria is estimated at 2 million, according to the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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