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“No there is schools, and it is open right now but you do not want to go or to learn..”, with an angry and sad tone Bara’- aged 9 years old- replied to his fiend who was calling him from his house balcony, to tell him to go back home for schools in Idlib city were closed in Idlib city and its countryside because of the brutal campaign carried out by the Syrian and the Russian air force targeting all crowds in the area.
Bara’ did not believe what his friend had said; hoping to reach the school finding its door open receiving the pupils- as usual, but he found it closed and that is why he come back home disappointed carrying his school bag which tired him for being filled with his books, believing his teacher would compensate the lessons he missed.
“Pencils Massacres”, as called by activists on social media; that no school was saved in Idlib city and its countryside from the brutality and barbarity of regime forces; where Al-Habeat town joined the list bidding farewell to two martyrs who went up heaven as regime air force carried out a raid in a school in the town. Regime is cruel not paying any consideration about those children who had no fault in this war or were not a party in it. For this reason many citizens do not allow their children to attend the school fearing that regime may take advantage of the crowd becoming victims for its crimes.
The free Education facility in Idlib province has not issued officially a decision issuing closing or postponing the schools; however, monitors on FM transceivers called civilians to decrease crowds which arouses fear in citizens’ hearts of the possibility that regime may target schools committing massacres against their children.
Since children being kept at home all the last time for not attending schools, they become looking for a new means to spent their time in an attempt to create their own special world to find in it what they lack in their daily life in the case they miss all the normal means of amusement for children at their age such as going to school without fear, activities, picnics and social relationships that they were denied due to current war.
So that social media becomes their only available means to them as a window enabling them to communicate socially proving their own character. Although social media fulfils the goal, but it has negative impacts on them whose effects may not appear right now. Probably most important result is that the child lives in unreal world where the child will soon get shocked with the opposite reality to that world; the child gets disappointed going through difficult times affecting his psychological condition.
A complete generation is living a chaos and lost in addition to deprivation even from their simple rights issued by all the international communities which is education, driving him to compensate that with means that may affect more than benefit. Children are the biggest victim of this war.
By Samah Alkhaled
Translated by Sabah Najem
#syrian_press_center
