Schools in Syria’s Deir ez-Zor lack teachers amidst overpopulated schools
DEIR EZ-ZOR, Syria (North Press) – The number of qualified schools in the city of Hajin, east of Deir ez-Zor, east Syria, is so little and does not match with the continuous increasing number of students, director of Hajin Educational Complex, Ahmad al-Shebli, said on Saturday.
In order to improve the educational reality in Hajin, officials of the Educational Complex demanded that new schools are built in order to accommodate the increasing numbers of student in addition to assigning qualified teachers.
There are 40 schools in Hajin city of which 16 were destroyed as a result of battles that the city witnessed during the Islamic State (ISIS) era.
ISIS was expelled from Hajin in late 2018 leaving the city suffering from services shortage especially in the education field as massive devastation hit educational facilities.
“The increasing number of students that reached 22,500, forced us to divide the schooldays into two shifts,” al-Shebli added.
As a result of the lack of schools and classrooms, the Educational Complex was forced to hire houses and turn them to schools, according to al-Shebli.
“19 hired houses were turned to school.”
After ISIS elimination, the city of Hajin witnessed several volunteering initiatives by residents to build classrooms in playgrounds within the destroyed schools and secure supplies needed for schools.
“Currently, each classroom includes 70 students,” al-Shebli said referring to the negative impacts on students’ abilities to understand in light of the overcrowding.
Since early 2021, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) has handed six schools, which were posts for them, over to the Educational Complex.
In order to solve this issue, “Hajin Educational Center needs new schools to be built in different neighborhoods and about 400 teachers,” he noted.
Al-Shebli called on the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) to take rapid and viable solutions in supporting the Education sector, which is a basic department in preparing an educated generation of young people.