“I was afraid to go to school, as unlike my classmates I couldn’t read or write well, therefore I decided to drop out and help my mother at home.” Says Zekra (13 y), who is living with her family of 11 in Qudsaya- Rural Damascus, after having to flee Deir Ezzor in 2018 seeking safety.
Her performance at school was badly affected, she says, being unable to attend
educational courses under harsh displacement conditions and economic hardships, as her big family had to live in an empty house except for some very basic necessities.
In 2023, Zekra changed her mind, thanks to the remedial educational courses she attended at the Community Center of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent in Qudsaya, where she was enrolled in the study-assignments club as well, and with her teachers’ support and encouragement at the center, she was able to go back
to school and excel.
“Math has become my favorite subject, and I want to study it in college” says Zekra
describing her future dream.
During the year 2023, Zekra was one among 542 children who attended the educational compensation courses supported by UN Refugee Agency UNHCR in rural Damascus, which target drop-out students to help them catch up with their education and encourage them to return to school.
The results can be best described in Zekra’s mother words: “Seeing my daughter waking up excited to go to school every morning, after she used to have bouts of crying by the very mention of it, is a great happiness.”
