Amidst the fighting in Syria between the government and rebel groups, the schooling system in Damascus has been dismantled. But some teachers refuse to leave Yarmouk, Syria’s largest Palestinian refuge camp, and continue to provide education to the growing population of Palestinian students.
Yarmouk has been under siege by the armed opposition since December 2012 and has suffered from heavy shelling and shooting by government forces as well. Many of the residents and teachers escaped to Lebanon and safer Syrian districts in 2012, leaving the education system in shambles. The two secondary schools were closed and the UN agency for Palestinian refuges, UNRWA, stopped operations at the camp.
However, some teachers stayed. Khalil Khalil, an Arabic professor at the University of Damascus and four other teachers have established an education program at the Palestinian Mosque in the camp. The school has grown from serving 20 students to more than 200.
While this is encouraging, the resources available are not enough. Khalil says, “it has become difficult for us to continue our work as before. We have needed to find places to educate these children but that is not easy at all in the camp at the moment. Then there are those essentials for education such as books and notepads and pens…but the most important thing is the security of the children and those that are volunteering to teach them.” Yehya Ishmaawi, one of the founding teachers, continues, “It is no longer a case of providing basic education support but trying to revive the complete program.”
In order to fund the school, the teachers have sought UNRWA support, which has been granted. Jemaal Abd al-Ghani, an UNRWA official appointed to work with the teachers and volunteers running the school in Yarmouk, says, “This is an unofficial route we are following but the most important thing is that we don’t allow the students’ education to be disrupted and we enable them to sit the exams on time, and under the supervision of UNRWA.”
Although the school in the Palestinian camp is growing, violence and aerial bombardment still greatly affects the students and the teachers. On the first of April, a mortar bomb hit right next to the mosque, injuring a number of children. A few days later, another strike killed two students and seriously injured three others. Although assaults on schools are not uncommon in Syria, there is hope seen in these students and teachers as they work to maintain some semblance of a normal life.
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