Yekiti Media
A few days after the start of the new academic year was announced, the ‘Yekiti Media’ website observed, during a field visit covering the cities and towns of Derik, Garki Lagi, Tarbah Sibi and Jal Agha, significant disruption and near-total paralysis in the teaching process across all educational levels, amidst widespread complaints from pupils’ families regarding this neglect of service provision.
Our website’s monitoring and follow-up in schools across these areas revealed that pupils at all educational levels have not yet received their textbooks, as the Syrian Ministry of Education has failed to supply schools with the necessary copies and curricula in time for the start of the school year.
The crisis is not limited to the absence of curricula; our monitoring in towns across these regions has also revealed a severe shortage of basic classroom supplies, with many schools lacking sufficient desks, blackboards, teaching aids and the stationery necessary to begin lessons.
As a result of this acute shortage, our correspondents reported that pupils are attending school daily without receiving any actual lessons; they spend their school hours in the playgrounds or in classrooms devoid of desks and books, turning schools into mere daily gathering places with no educational benefit.
In the same context, many families of pupils in the aforementioned cities have expressed their deep dissatisfaction and shock at this deteriorating situation, stating in their complaints to “ Yekiti Media” that sending their children to school under these circumstances is a waste of time and effort. They hold the Ministry of Education fully responsible for the lack of preparedness and poor planning for the start of the academic year, and are demanding immediate intervention to secure textbooks and desks before their children miss out on the first term