Action Group – South Damascus
Palestinian teacher Abu Raafat Odeh, a native of Yarmouk Camp, appealed to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) to work on renovating the alternative Al-Jarmaq School, which played a prominent educational role during the years of siege and displacement witnessed in the camp.
In a documented testimony, Abu Raafat, a teacher, reviewed the reality of the school, which was established in 2012 in an alternative building after the original Al-Jarmaq School was bombed by warplanes. He noted that the school received hundreds of students displaced from Yarmouk Camp, which at the time housed more than 200,000 people.
He explained that education continued at the alternative school despite the lack of renovation and support, noting that the teaching staff relied on furniture they transported from neighboring UNRWA schools. Despite the school being subjected to renewed bombing by Russian aircraft in 2017, parents and teachers insisted on continuing the educational process until 2016, when it was halted due to the control of the “ISIS” organization, which refused to allow any educational activities.
Abu Raafat recounted the details of his arrest by ISIS while transporting school supplies to the town of Yalda. He was released in a prisoner exchange deal and resumed his teaching activities there until 2019, when the school was handed over to UNRWA, which later adopted it under the name “Al-Jarmaq Al-Badila.” Students sat for their middle and high school exams in Damascus schools, such as the Alliance School.
Odeh pointed out that the educational situation in Yarmouk camp after the return of residents remains difficult, as there are only two schools (Al-Sarfand School for Boys and another for Girls) serving all levels from first to ninth grades, amid severe overcrowding, with up to 50 students per class, negatively impacting the educational process.
At the end of his testimony, Abu Raafat appealed to UNRWA to restore and rehabilitate schools in the camp, saying, “We hope that this international institution will pay attention to the suffering of this people who only want peace and learn to become active global citizens.