JIL AGHA, Syria (North Press) – The school dropout rate has increased in Syria’s northeastern town of Jil Agha and its countryside. Students are often forced to join the labor markets, or their parents push them to learn a trade in the markets, in conditions not suitable for their ages.
The total number of students in the Jil Agha town and its countryside schools is 9,567, of whom 7,267 are in primary school, 1,268 in preparatory school, and 572 in secondary school.
The number of school dropouts this year reached 750, according to data available to the Schools Management Committee in Jil Agha.
Ahmed al-Abdullah, a 13-year-old student from Jill Agha in the eastern countryside of Syria’s Qamishli, is busy these days learning the craft of auto electricity after he left school and decided to stop his education.
He said he won his father’s approval and that he was happy with his job, because he is one of seven brothers and had to struggle with a difficult life.
Another 13-year-old from the countryside of Jil Agha, also named Abdullah, came to the town to learn the craft of plumbing. He said, “I will return to study later now that I will learn a profession.”
He added, “I would advise my companions who study, if they are diligent, to continue their studies to build their future.”
Hussein Elewi, a 22-year-old displaced person from Aleppo who has been living in Jil Agha for five years, thinks that industrial professions are not suitable for these children.
As he went through the experience before and suffered from it, he advised pupils and students to complete their studies, and learn trades after the age of twenty.
Musa al-Hussein, a resident of Jil Agha, explained that only two of his children are still in school due to his poor living conditions.
“I have six children. Four of them were in school and I am the only breadwinner for them. Low income forced me to choose between educating them or feeding them,” al-Hussein told North Press.
Al-Hussein pointed out that he pays rent for both his home and his shop, and bears the hardship of securing the family’s needs, which requires him to work for full month to equip one child for school.
He added that “a notebook is a thousand pounds, not to mention clothes, shoes, bags, and other necessities. I am not happy with what I did.”
The father feels remorse and regret. “My heart burned for them because they were diligent and their work with me was beyond their means,” he explained.
Hani al-Mahmoud, an administrator in the Jil Agha Schools Committee, told North Press that education is free and compulsory according to the decisions of the Education Board in the Autonomous Administration and its bylaws.
However, the absence of an accountability mechanism opens the way to school dropouts.
Al-Mahmoud pointed out that some of the students’ families said that the Syrian government does not recognize the education documents issued by the Autonomous Administration.
However, he believed that the availability of university colleges and local employment opportunities would prove these objections false.
The Schools Committee relies on awareness-raising campaigns for students and their parents, with the aim of reducing the dropout rate and preventing kids from joining the labor market at a young age.