![mustafa amani mustafa amani](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/j7zHCQ52GAc/hqdefault.jpg)
The intense fear has caused many students to become isolated and depressed. Our schools have already been targeted eight times in 2021 and we’re worried that fewer and fewer children will return to school each school year. None of her third grade classmates would sit in Jamila’s chair for a month until a new student came. She had already fled her home many times due to attacks but there was nowhere safe left to go and at 5am on 12 July, Assad’s forces bombed her home killing Jamila. One of our students, ten-year-old Jamila al Jasem, was killed in July. We respond to calls and texts from parents, and we do everything we can to help when the children panic and ask to go home. Whenever a warplane is nearby, we ask the children to remain calm and rush them to a shelter, usually a small room under the stairs, where we hide for hours until it’s safe to come out. The training itself can be confusing for young children who don’t understand that we’re practicing. We run regular drills with the children as we only have a few minutes when there’s a warning that a warplane is coming closer, so we have to move fast. We’re trained to evacuate the classroom when the bombs fall. We need world leaders to stop the attacks, and ensure that children are safe and able to continue their education. Like teachers everywhere, we are deeply committed to the children we teach, and we do all we can to try to protect them but it is not enough. Early morning on Wednesday, October 20, four students and our colleague, Arabic teacher Qamar Hafez were tragically killed on their way to school when Syrian government forces attacked the town of Ariha in south Idlib with artillery shells.Īt least 55 children have been killed in the past four months by the Syrian and Russian governments, nearly a child every other day, and one million children in Idlib are terrified they might be next or they might lose their best friend at any moment. We go to work afraid of another attack, and of another traumatizing day, which we know will affect our pupils for the rest of their lives. We are the teachers of students in northwest Syria who are deliberately targeted in their homes, classrooms and as they walk to school.
#Mustafa amani full#
If you are an educator and would like to sign on to this letter in solidarity with Syrian teachers, please email with your full name and affiliation. Students horrified by the attacks that killed ten people including four students in the town of Ariha in Idlib, northwest Syria.