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The so-called Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), or White Helmets, supported by the United States, seized 2,106 schools in areas under their control in northern and northeastern Syria and denounced Syria's national education authorities.
The action provoked the indignation of residents who prefer to send their children to centers that provide curricula of the Ministry of Education, according to the director of this office in Hasakeh province, Elham Sourkhan.
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He explained that more than 130,000 children study in 179 state schools in the cities of Qamishli and Hasakeh, which causes pressure on these centers where an average of 100 students are taught in each classroom.
The official denounced that the separatist militias turned some schools into military barracks or prisons, while their armed forces prevented the arrival of three trucks with thousands of textbooks to official schools.
3.6 million children in #Syria start the new school year. Thank you Basma Qaddour pic.twitter.com/NuugElUkOD
— tim anderson (@timand2037) September 5, 2021
According to the education ministry, "We have taken immediate measures to ensure the proper functioning of education, including the establishment of two daily shifts, the conversion of some houses into schools and the installation of prefabricated classrooms so as not to deprive any pupil of his or her right to education."
The SDF occupy large areas of Syria's al-Jazeera region which includes parts of the provinces of Deir Ezzor, Hasakeh and Raqa, and some areas of northeastern Aleppo, where they increase their separatist and criminal practices taking advantage of the support they receive from the U.S. federal administration.
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