Syria Relief – the largest Syria-focused NGO in the UK – is continuing to support 2.4million people in Syria by opening a primary school for children who have fled their homes as a result of the conflict.
The primary school, in the Mahmudli camp in the Raqqa governorate of Syria – a former occupied ISIS stronghold – will provide 400 children with the opportunity to learn. For some this will be the first time they have accessed an education or attended a school in three to four years.
The Chief Executive of Syria Relief, Othman Moqbel, said: “It is another proud day for Syria Relief, from our HQ in Manchester, via our world-class network of aid workers throughout Syria, we are able to open another school for Syrian children so desperately in need of an education.
“This conflict has been going on for nearly nine years now, and most primary school children only know a life where conflict is the normal. When these children are out of school their life chances suffer drastically.
“We’re asking the people of Greater Manchester, throughout the North West and the UK to help us build the next school, which is desperately needed, as over 2million Syrians are out of education due to this awful conflict.”
Many of the children at the school have fled from violence across the war-torn country, abandoning their homes in the chaos of the conflict.
Najm, one of the pupils at the new school, is excited about learning: “We are happy, we will play and tomorrow will start studying in it.”
Sawsan – a girl who would have been forbidden by the terrorist organisation from going to school – said of the school’s opening: “Today we opened, and we are happy!”
The school’s opening adds to the 55 schools that the charity currently operates throughout Syria, but even these have not been immune to the violent conflict felt across the country.
Four of the schools have been severely damaged by air strikes since the start of the military offensive in April this year. The charity intends to build another school in Syria and is appealing to people in Greater Manchester and throughout the North West to help them.
Image courtesy of Charles Lawley/Syria Relief via Flickr, with thanks.
