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Sarah McMillan

Mr. Phillips

English III

03 May 2018

The Effect of the Syrian Civil War on Children

Everyone knows the damaging effects of war on the soldiers, but what about the civilians

of the countries in which the battles are being fought, specifically the children? Many children

that have grown up during the civil war in Syria have not been able to live normal lives. They do

not receive adequate food and shelter, and what many people may not think about is that it also

impacts their education. The war in Syria has caused many children’s educations to suffer, with

the violence putting many children out of school.

One way the war has affected Syrian children’s education has been that it destroys

schools or damages the resources needed in the classroom. The war has caused the schools

themselves to “bear the scars of war”; classrooms are freezing due to high fuel prices to heat

them, the desks are old and damaged, and the schools don’t have any new technology (Samia

Nakhoul). “Things like electricity, internet connection, everything I need for my virtual study

was hard to get because of the siege and sometimes not available at all,” says Mahmoud, a 20-

year-old in Eastern Ghouta in an interview with Sean Coughlan of BBC News Global. The

violence of the war also destroys the places the children would normally go to learn. At least

4,072 schools have been forced to close, been used as shelters, or been destroyed (Shireen Daft),

and due to the “high probability” they may get targeted again, many schools that have been

destroyed are not being repaired (Seven Ways That Seven Years of Syrian War Has Affected

Children and Their Education). According to the International Rescue Committee, over one-
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third of schools have been damaged or destroyed, and hundreds of thousands of teachers and

professors have fled the country. Because school-aged children have very limited access to

teachers and to places where education is provided, there are not many options for them to

pursue an education.

Another way the Syrian Civil War has affected education is that many children are not

going to school for various conflict-related reasons. Numerous young Syrian refugees have not

attended school in over five years, which has negative academic, emotional, and psychosocial

effects (A Human Right to Literacy Education: Implications for Serving Syrian Refugee

Children). In fact, according to UNICEF USA, more than 1.75 million Syrian children within the

country and one million refugee children outside the country are receiving no education at all,

which translates to about 43% of Syrian children (Seven Ways That Seven Years of Syrian War

Has Affected Children and Their Education). Many of these children are not in school because of

limited funding, capacity of partners, and families’ lack of livelihoods (Syria Crisis), and others

may drop out because of danger or to help provide for their families (7 Things You Need to

Know about the Horror in Syria). The fighting between the Syrian government and rebels puts

Syrian children’s lives in danger, preventing them from having safe travel to and from school,

and even at school, as well as destroying many families’ livelihoods, forcing the children to stay

home and help, rather than going to get an education.

The Syrian Civil War also has an impact on the education of Syrian refugees who have

fled to other countries. For Syrian children who speak their native Arabic, learning another

language in order to learn in a school in a different country proves challenging. “Without

language and literacy instruction, refugee children experience a lower likelihood of class

participation and a greater likelihood of social isolation or drop out” (A Human Right to Literacy
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Education: Implications for Serving Syrian Refugee Children). Syrian students in other countries

have a harder time learning in an unfamiliar environment, especially when the community they

now live in speaks a different language. Consequently, this can put many Syrian refugee students

behind others their age.

Within the country, the lack of schooling being provided may negatively impact

children’s futures and create an uneducated generation. According to VOA News, “a generation

of young children has grown up without proper education, with 180,000 youths forced into child

labor.” Furthermore, failing to educate Syrian children would lead to a “lost generation” and

substantially impair efforts to rebuild the country (Fears Rise of Lost Generation as More Syrian

Refugee Children out of School). In the BBC News Global interview by Sean Coughlan with

Mahmoud mentioned earlier, Coughlan says, “[Mahmoud] fears for Syria’s next generation,

missing out on education and with the risk of ‘ignorance and child labor’.” Syrian children have

unfairly been “robbed of an education and a future” (Report: Fears Rise of 'Lost Generation' as

More Syrian Refugee Children Out of

School). As stated by UNICEF USA, “having already lost their homes, schools, and

communities, their chances of building a future may also soon be lost.”

The war in Syria began in 2011, after peaceful protests against the high unemployment,

corruption, and lack of political freedom under Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, turned

violent. The two sides in the war, the Syrian government and those against it, may believe that

fighting is the only option to solve the issue; however, they seemingly do not acknowledge the

importance of the citizen’s lives. If the children do not grow up with an education, the future of

the country will be in danger. Rather than physically fighting, the two sides should have

diplomatic discussions and make an attempt at a reasonable agreement, and if fighting if


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necessary, they should move the fight to unpopulated areas of the country so they aren’t putting

innocent lives at risk.

The Syrian Civil War is affecting innocent Syrian citizens, especially school-aged

children. The conflict is keeping many of them out of school, preventing them from receiving an

education, therefore negatively impacting their futures. Although the Syrian government and its

opposition believe continuing the fight is the way to solve their disagreement, the fighting puts

Syrian children’s education and futures in danger. The opposing sides in the war need to find a

more diplomatic solution to resolve their conflict, or fight in an unpopulated area, for the safety

of the Syrian people.


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Works Cited

“7 Things You Need to Know about the Horror in Syria.” International Rescue Committee

(IRC), 18 Apr. 2018, www.rescue.org/article/7-things-you-need-know-about-horror-syria.

Accessed 16 April 2018.

“A Human Right to Literacy Education: Implications for Serving Syrian Refugee Children.”

Taylor & Francis, www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17549507.2017.1397746.

Accessed 21 April 2018.

Coughlan, Sean. “The World's Toughest Place to Study?” BBC News, BBC, 28 Mar. 2018,

www.bbc.com/news/business-43555596. Accessed 17 April 2018.

Daft, Shireen. “Why Schools Become Battlegrounds during Conflict.” The Conversation, 26

Apr. 2018, theconversation.com/why-schools-become-battlegrounds-during-conflict-93851.

Accessed 19 April 2018.

Nakhoul, Samia. “Years Late, Syria's Children of War Learn to Read and Write.” Reuters,

Thomson Reuters, 9 Feb. 2018,

www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-children/years-late-syrias-children-of-wa

r-learn-to-read-and-write-idUSKBN1FS2ED. Accessed 16 April 2018.

Reuters. “Report: Fears Rise of 'Lost Generation' as More Syrian Refugee Children Out of

School.” VOA, VOA, 28 Mar. 2018,

www.voanews.com/a/syrian-refugees-lacking-education/4320249.html. Accessed 19

April 2018.

“Syria Crisis.” UNICEF USA,

www.unicefusa.org/mission/emergencies/child-refugees/syria-crisis. Accessed 21 April

2018.
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Team, Their News. “Seven Ways That Seven Years of Syrian War Has Affected Children and

Their Education.” Theirworld, Theirworld, 15 Mar. 2018,

theirworld.org/news/seven-years-of-syria-conflict-how-it-affects-children-education-refu

Gees-schools. Accessed 19 April 2018.

TRTWorld. Fears Rise of Lost Generation as More Syrian Refugee Children out of School, TRT

World, 28 Mar. 2018,

www.trtworld.com/mea/fears-rise-of-lost-generation-as-more-syrian-refugee-children-out

-of-school-16276. Accessed 16 April 2018.

“UNICEF Syria Crisis Situation Report - 2017 Humanitarian Results.” ReliefWeb,

reliefweb.int/report/syrian-arab-republic/unicef-syria-crisis-situation-report-2017-humani

tarian-results. Accessed 17 April 2018.

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