Schools in Jal Agha: Between lack of resources, community initiatives to restore them to service

With the continuation of the new academic year 2026/2027, monitoring the reality of the educational sector in the city of Jal Agha and its countryside in the Jazira region reveals the extent of the difficulties facing schools, amid the decline in available resources to meet their needs and the insufficiency of the necessary resources to carry out maintenance and restoration work. And with the official solutions faltering, the parents found themselves responsible for intervening to maintain the schools, in an attempt to provide the minimum conditions that would allow their children to continue their education.

57 schools and accumulated needs

The educational complex in Jal Agha includes 57 schools, most of which suffer from a lack of basic supplies, including chairs and heaters, in addition to the need for maintenance of restrooms, provision of water tanks, and repair of buildings that have been damaged.

Despite these needs, 51 schools are operational during the current academic year, while six schools remain completely out of service and require comprehensive rehabilitation before they can accommodate students.

The six inactive schools are concentrated in the villages of Al-Qaws, Musa Kura, Baqla, Qiro, Dhakira, and the Rasafa neighborhood, where the continued lack of rehabilitation has deprived children of continuing their education within their areas.

The parents are taking on the rehabilitation work.

In light of the educational complex's inability to carry out the required maintenance due to limited resources and the absence of a renovation budget from the Ministry of Education in the Syrian transitional government, the affected villagers turned to fundraising and volunteer work to restore their schools to service.

In the village of Baqla, the residents took it upon themselves to rehabilitate the school that had gone out of service due to the recent attacks. The work included repairing the restrooms, purchasing a new water tank, securing desks and chairs, and repairing the damaged ones, in addition to installing window glass and sealing the openings in the school's walls.

The rehabilitation works also included repairing the electrical network, painting the walls, and restoring the damaged rooms, with the aim of preparing the school to receive students and resume the educational process.

The member of the popular committee in the village of Baqla and supervisor of the maintenance work, Radwan Marai, said that the lack of sufficient budget from the educational complex to carry out the repairs prompted the residents to take the initiative and cooperate with the educational authorities to rehabilitate their schools.

Murri explained that the rehabilitation works included various school facilities, aiming to restore it to its condition before the recent battles, emphasizing that the school represents the educational hub for the village's children, and that its maintenance and reoperation are also the responsibility of the local community.

The residents of the villages and the city of Jal Agha called on the relevant authorities to support and participate in grassroots initiatives, which would help restore the affected schools to service and ensure the continuation of children's education.

Six schools need complete rehabilitation.

For his part, the administrative supervisor of the educational complex in Jal Agha, Khaled Owaid Dhiab, explained that the Ministry of Education had promised to allocate financial amounts for the maintenance of schools, but these allocations have not been disbursed yet, despite the urgent need for them.

He pointed out, after a tour of the schools in cooperation with the district administration, that the situation of the schools in Jal Agha is difficult, explaining that the 57 schools need varying degrees of repair and maintenance, while the six closed schools need complete rehabilitation due to the damage they have sustained.

He explained that the limited resources of the educational complex prevented meeting all the needs, while the parents cooperated with the complex to form committees, collect donations, and carry out maintenance work.

He pointed out that some schools require amounts beyond the parents' capacity, as the Musa Kora School needs more than 5,000 for its rehabilitation, while the Dhakira School requires extensive work, which forced the educational complex to limit repairs to just a few rooms, in order to ensure the continuity of the educational process.

The lack of books and heating threatens the regularity of attendance.
Regarding educational supplies, Diab said that the educational complex is making efforts to provide the basic needs for schools, including maintenance work and textbooks. However, the delay by the Ministry of Education in sending the books adds a new challenge for the educational staff and the complex, and it affects the progress of the teaching process.

As for securing diesel fuel and heating means with the approach of winter, he explained that the issue has not yet been discussed with the ministry, and no budget has been allocated for purchasing heaters or sending the fuel allocations designated for schools.

Dhiab warned that the absence of heating means could hinder the regular attendance of students as temperatures drop, pointing out the possibility that parents might refrain from sending their children to school if suitable heating conditions are not provided.

The reality of schools in Jal Agha indicates that the scale of needs in several cases exceeds the capabilities of the educational complex and local initiatives, making the provision of a budget for maintenance, securing books, desks, and heating means an urgent necessity to ensure the continuation of the educational process in a suitable environment for children.

ANHA