Back to school, but not for all of Syria’s children

ABC News: With fewer areas in active combat in Syria, more children are going back to school this year, the Syrian government said, putting the number at 4 million.
Keen to project an image of normalcy, the government said it has rehabilitated over 400 schools over the last two months alone and called on students to return to wearing school uniforms, shed in years of conflict.
“This is to reaffirm that we have reached victory phase. which means things should settle down, including in education,” Education Minister Hazwan Allwaz told the pro-government Al-Watan newspaper in comments published at the opening of the academic year Sunday.
The war is far from over, however, and its devastation has been particularly scarring for the country’s children, including those who fled the conflict, Geert Cappelaere, regional director of the U.N. Children’s agency UNICEF, said.
Loss of families’ livelihoods, pervasive poverty, trauma and continued insecurity — even in areas where fighting has ended — as well as severe aid funding cuts are among the biggest obstacles facing Syria’s children.
Some 2 million kids in Syria remain out of school. Nearly one out of three Syrian schools is out of service. Some 180,000 qualified teachers have also left the system. Since April, 31 children were killed by unexploded ordnance, according to UNICEF, including in areas where fighting ended.