Mayis Mohammed and her colleagues from the teaching and administrative staff at a school in the Hama countryside had to use wood-burning heaters because their school did not receive its allocations of heating oil.
Mohammed added, in an interview with Enab Baladi, that her school is located in a mountainous area at an altitude of 1200 meters above sea level, making the weather very cold. Students often miss school to avoid the cold; however, the teaching and administrative staff are obligated to attend regardless of the circumstances.
The lack of heating materials in some Syrian schools has forced many parents in several regions to keep their children at home during severe cold days, fearing for their safety during their long hours in school. Some teaching and administrative staff have turned to alternative solutions to protect themselves from the harsh cold.
As the winter season in Syria draws to a close, some schools have still not received their allocations.
The Syrian Meteorological Directorate published a report on the variation in temperatures in Syria between highs and lows during the last week of March, along with information on wind movement and intensity.
Winter hardships
Zainab Mahmoud, a teacher at a school in Damascus, refrains from sending her daughter to elementary school on cold days, especially during waves of frost.
According to what she told Enab Baladi, her daughter’s school did receive its heating oil allocations, but it was a small amount, prompting the school principal to allocate just one liter per day for each classroom, barely creating a tolerable environment.
The Abdul Rahman al-Ghafiqi Elementary School in the al-Midan area of Damascus did not receive its heating oil allocations, and parents there have complained of an increase in their children’s winter illnesses (influenza, diarrhea, etc.) due to spending long hours at school without heating.
The teaching and administrative staff in the same school rely on collecting the cost of the heating oil used in their rooms from their own pockets, an expense that cannot be generalized to students or added to families’ burdens.
Several school directors in Damascus mentioned to Enab Baladi that the schools that received their heating oil allocations had obtained approvals before the previous regime’s collapse, while those that did not receive approvals are still waiting for their allocations under the pretext of not having available funding from the education directorate.
In Homs, many women decided not to send their children to school during cold and rainy days for fear of them contracting illnesses.
The women interviewed by Enab Baladi indicated that the issue is not only related to the availability of heating oil but also the poor condition of the heaters in the classrooms, which have been used for years without proper maintenance and cleaning by those responsible in the school.
On February 22, the Syrian Ministry of Education took a measure to ensure the safety of students and health staff due to the unstable weather conditions, which involved delaying the start of the school day across all schools in Syria.
According to the decision, schools with a single session now start at 9 AM, while schools with two sessions start at 8:30 AM, without changing the duration of the class period.
Ministry of Education publishes distribution statistics
The Ministry of Education in Syria published statistics on its social media channels regarding the quantity of heating oil distributed to schools in all governorates since the regime’s collapse up until March 14.
The largest share of heating oil went to the Idlib Education Directorate, with 975,885 liters distributed across 938 schools, averaging approximately 1,000 liters per school.
In contrast, the Homs Education Directorate received the smallest amount, only 7,000 liters for 24 schools, which averages about 290 liters per school.
In Quneitra province, each school received 2,720 liters of heating oil, the largest allocation, while schools in Deir Ezzor province received only 111 liters, marking the lowest allocation among the governorates.
Damascus province and its schools were absent from the statistics published by the Syrian Ministry of Education.
In a statement to the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), the Minister of Education in the interim government of Damascus, Nazir al-Qadri, asserted that heating oil has been secured in coordination with the Ministry of Oil.
It was distributed to schools based on geographic area, weather conditions, and the number of students, with a focus on schools located in the coldest areas.
UN reports
The education system in Syria is severely strained and plagued by a chronic lack of funding; it remains fragmented and struggles to offer safe, equitable, and sustainable educational services to millions of vulnerable children.
According to a joint statement by the regional coordinator for humanitarian affairs for the Syrian crisis, Muhannad Hadi, and UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, Ted Chaiban, on January 24, 2021, children who are able to attend school are learning in overcrowded classrooms and buildings that lack adequate water and sanitation facilities, electricity, heating, or ventilation.
Syria’s schools: Escaping the cold through absenteeism Enab Baladi.
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