Idlib – Iyad Abdul Jawad

Several school classes at the Kuwait camp near the town of Harbanoush in northern Idlib have stopped receiving students due to insufficient numbers, depriving students of education, or forcing their parents to travel seven kilometers to reach the nearest school.

The cancellation of several classes came after some families returned to their towns and villages, leading to a decline in student numbers. This affected the al-Darin school for boys and the Doha school for girls located in the camp.

A reporter from Enab Baladi in Idlib countryside stated that the Doha school used to have 11 classrooms from the first to the eighth grade but is now limited to just three, covering the first, second, and fourth grades only. The situation is similar in dozens of schools in neighboring IDP camps.

He mentioned that individuals associated with the school or delegated from the education department took desks, energy boards, and batteries, which have become unused following the cancellation of classes.

There is no official statistic on the number of students affected by this decision, especially since many of their peers have returned to their original towns.

Calls to reactivate classes

With feelings of sadness and confusion, Jawad al-Mohammad (41 years old) sits in front of his housing unit in the Kuwait camp after learning from his two daughters, who are in the eighth grade, that the school administration canceled the middle school classes due to the low number of students.

Al-Mohammad told Enab Baladi that he had stopped them from continuing their education for now because the nearest school is more than seven kilometers away, and he cannot afford to support them or move to another place financially.

He noted that the joy following the fall of the regime was overshadowed by sorrow, as his village, Qabr Fidda, in Hama countryside is nearly destroyed, services are lacking, and he cannot return at the moment. He is left with no choice but to stop his daughters from studying.

Al-Mohammad considered the cancellation of several classes an unjust decision against the children and their families, not taking into account the currently deteriorating economic and living conditions. He expressed his hopes for reversing the decision and reactivating the canceled classes at least until the end of the academic year.

He mourns the plight of children who have faced failures and the hardships of displacement, bombardment, and the harsh life in tents, alongside the epidemics and the deterioration of their educational levels, describing the decision as the “death blow” to their dreams.

Internal regulations determine

Regarding the cancellation and re-establishment of classrooms in schools, the head of the administrative guidance department in the Education Directorate of Idlib, Walid Hamadi, stated that there is an internal system related to the number of students in each classroom.

He mentioned to Enab Baladi that the minimum for a classroom is 20 students and the maximum is 41 students. In light of the current circumstances, the shortage in numbers has been overlooked.

Hamadi added that some schools currently have 10 students in a classroom, and they have been kept open because the education department has resumed activating schools after the regime’s fall, facilitating the transfer of students and staff to their original areas and providing them with educational opportunities.

Regarding providing educational opportunities for small numbers of students, the education department has a system of combined classes to ensure that students are not deprived of their right to education.

As for re-initiating education for small groups, he stated that the education department has not ceased educating them but has canceled some classrooms that did not meet the required numbers. Those remaining are still provided with educational services.

Hamadi’s statements contradict the situation in the Kuwait camp’s schools, where dozens of students have been affected by class cancellations, and they have no other options for obtaining education aside from moving to schools in other areas.

On February 13, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that over 825,000 displaced Syrians have returned to their areas since December 2024. However, the movement out of camps remains limited, with about 80,000 people leaving camps in northwestern Syria, while only 300 people left the al-Arisha camp in the eastern part of the country.

Approximately two million people remain displaced in northwestern Syria, with most of them living in crowded sites and fragile tents.