• 22 Jan, 2026

Despite all the harsh conditions that the war has left on Syrian children and their schooling, from attacks on them and their schools by the regime and its allies, they have insisted on holding onto education Tents became schools and stones became seats, especially in rural Idlib and camp areas

After the fall of Assad’s regime and the return of children to their schools in their towns and villages in southern rural Idlib, the children insist that education is the only hope for their future and the future of their country, which was destroyed by war They entered the semi-destroyed schools with no chairs, no windows, and no doors, enduring harsh conditions alongside their teachers in order to continue the educational process

Every day I take a small blanket from home My friend and I sit on it When it rains, water comes in from the broken windows and we lift our notebooks so they don’t get wet

Before the child Ayham Al-Omari leaves his home in the village of Maarshmarin in southern Idlib every morning, his mother puts a small piece of sponge in his bag, carefully cut to fit the space where he will sit on the cold classroom floor She tells him while adjusting his thin jacket, “Take it with you, my son, sit on it in class so you don’t get cold from the floor”

This piece has become part of his daily school supplies like the pen and notebook but in reality, it is a way to stay in a classroom with no seats and no heating in one of the most war-affected areas in northwestern Syria In Ayham’s school, dozens of students sit on the floor, huddled near crumbling walls The rain that seeped in a few days ago through broken windows left mud spots on the classroom floor while the teacher writes the lesson on a large sheet of paper pinned with a nail, after losing the wooden blackboard years ago Ayham smiles shyly when asked about his school and says Sometimes there is no place to sit I spread the sponge and sit on it When it rains, we quickly move the lesson so the notebooks do not get wet