Syrian Children Return to School Amid Ruins, Power Cuts and Safety Fears

Syrian children are returning to classrooms despite extensive war damage, limited services and continuing concerns about safety on the way to school.

In Damascus, eight-year-old Tasnim attends a school several kilometres from her home because schools in her neighbourhood have been damaged and are no longer operating. After classes, she walks home through streets marked by destruction and passes the ruins of another school.

“When we returned to Damascus, I signed up for a school here. Because the schools near our house are all devastated and out of service, I moved to a school far away,” Tasnim said. “Going back and forth is hard to do every day. I wish the nearby schools weren’t damaged.”

Studying without electricity

Tasnim’s family returned to Syria two years ago because they had nowhere else to go. Their home in Damascus is still standing, but the surrounding area remains affected by rubble and damaged buildings.

Her father, Mahmoud Rushdi, works as a cobbler between damaged walls and broken doors. Tasnim helps him after school and sometimes accompanies him to deliver work to his employer.

She studies during daylight because there is no electricity at home and the battery powering their light runs out at night.

“When I come back from school, I help my dad with his work, and sometimes I go with him to send his work to his employer,” she said. “Then I come back to study during the day, as the battery runs out of power at night and there’s no light. After that, I go to bed.”

Rushdi said services in the area had been severely affected, with no electricity grid available. He added that residents needed solar power, but that most people could not afford it.

Concerns over the journey to school

Rushdi also described safety concerns for children travelling through areas he said were deserted and abandoned. He said families worried that their children could be kidnapped and that living in such conditions required caution.

His comments reflect concerns reported by residents; the information does not independently establish that kidnappings have occurred in the area.

More than 7,000 schools in Syria have been damaged or destroyed during years of conflict, according to the source report. Reopening and restoring education facilities remains one of the country’s major challenges.

The UN refugee agency reported that more than three million displaced Syrians had returned home by December 2025. For children such as Tasnim, however, returning home has not meant a return to normal schooling, as damaged infrastructure and inadequate basic services continue to shape daily life.