Raqqa struggles to revive schools, await support from donor agencies
up by civilian authorities in Raqqa.
The children have lost out on five years of schooling.
“Very basic” aid had been allowed for some renovation work, covering only 10 percent of needs, Shannan told Reuters. The schools generally “have no doors, no windows, in addition to the sanitation systems that are in a deplorable state,” he said.
At Uqba bin Nafie School, one classroom looks out onto a wrecked building, its floors col- lapsed on top of each other and a car flipped on its side nearby. In the yard, children stand around large pools of dirty water while others eat snacks by the crumpled wreckage of another vehicle.
Daesh used Raqqa’s schools — like much of the city — for military purposes, digging tunnels under some of them. Some of the schools were hit by airstrikes, Raqqa residents say.
Amnesty International has said 80 percent of the city still lies in ruins, with thousands of bodies under the rubble. With much of Raqqa destroyed by US-led airstrikes, Amnesty has faulted the coalition for not doing more to help recovery.
The US has said stabilization efforts in Raqqa have focused on basic necessities including demining, water and electricity. The coalition has also supported the reopening of schools.
UNICEF, the UN children’s agency, estimates that 2.1 million chil- dren in Syria are out of school.
In Raqqa, UNICEF is providing textbooks to more than 121,000 children so they can get a start while waiting for a classroom, said Juliette Touma, UNICEF’s regional chief of communications.
“The self-learning program allows children who are out of school to learn at home, an NGO or community learning center,” she said.
Shannan said 57,000 books have been received so far, short of 95,000 he said had been requested. The need was growing as the number of children registered for school increases, he said.
As winter sets in, the dilapidated state of the schools is leading some children to miss out on yet more lessons.
Ayman Al-Qurt, the director of Uqba bin Nafie School, says attendance in one of his classes is just 11 of 38 pupils “because of the bad state of the school and the bad weather.”