Despite what they have experienced, young Syrians are not giving up on their dreams. Supporting their education is proving to be one way to help them heal, learn and thrive.
"I really like going to school. I like it even more now that I am going there on the school bus," said Ranin (right), a first grade student, who is happy having a badge with her photo on it.
Located 80 km from Amman, Jordan's Azrap Camp houses 53,901 people of whom 37% of them are school-age children. The camp area is almost desert with harsh weather all year round. In winter, temperatures can drop below zero degrees Celsius, and in summer they reach up to 45 degrees.
The schools in the camp are run by the Jordan Ministry of Education with the support of the United Nations Refugee Agency.
Regardless of the weather, children were walking up to two kilometres to school in all weathers. Because of overcrowding, girls and boys go to school at different times. Girls walked to school in the early morning, when it is extremely cold in winter, and boys walked there in the middle of the day, experiencing summer's highest temperatures.
Families were worried about letting their children walk such long distances, especially if they were not able to walk with them.
Nearly half of the people living with disabilities in Azrap Camp are children. Children with special needs are assisted by the escorts. One of the buses even has a special ramp to enable a children with reduced mobility to enter and exit the bus.
Youssuf (right) is one of the Syrian facilitators of the school transportation programme in Azrap Camp. Youssuf came to Jordan in September 2014. It is the first time that he works with children.
"This project is very useful for the camp as there are no cars or transportation, and before the project started children that live far from school used to walk for more than 30 minutes twice a day," said Youssuf.
AHMED WITH HIS TWO DAUGHTERS
Ahmed (above) has two daughters and three sons, one of whom was born in Azraq Camp. Three of his children go to school on IOM buses: Mahmoud, Leen and Safa.
"Before, the children faced a lot of difficulties trying to reach school. In winter, they had to walk a long way in the dust, in the cold and in the mud. In summer, they had to put up with extremely hot temperatures," explained Ahmed.
Like Youssuf, Ahmed works helping to get the children to school.
"Going to school by bus is something new for them. Sometimes the kids get too excited when they are getting on and don’t respect each others turns.
The children are special. Some like to go with one particular escort and will wait for this person's bus, so that they can go with him or her."
Five prefab cabins surround a small concrete yard with a wire fence, which together make up Basirma Camp's high school for Syrian refugees. Basirma camp is located north of Erbil city in Iraq.
With extremely limited resources, the students dedication is the only motivation for the school manager, Luqman Mohammed Saeed, to keep the school running .
When Luqman (right) took over the school six months ago, he faced teaching staff shortages, almost no electricity and no technology equipment.
Luqman recruited teachers from the Syrian refugee population. He also convinced a local contractor at the camp to provide a few hours of free electricity to the school each day.
“It is still not sufficient but it is better now,” said Luqman.
Abbas Ibrahim (right) teaches geography and history.
“Today, we are studying volcanic eruptions as one factor in the process of mountain formation,” said Abbas.
Then, he turned to the students and asked, “Who can give an example of this type of mountain?”
“Mount Fuji in Japan!” replied one student.
“Jabal al-Tair Island mountains in Yemen!” said another.
Eight of the thirteen senior students have been admitted to universities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
“This school offers a better future for these teenagers and protects many of them from dangers like early marriage and irregular migration,” said Abbas.
