“I want to go to school to study math and to see my friends who I haven’t been able to see for quite a long time because of the war,” said Ahamd, who was attending one of the educational and recreational forums for children held at the Manahel al-Taaleem Elementary School in the Quiche area in Benghazi. 

“I want to go to school to study math and to see my friends who I haven’t been able to see for quite a long time because of the war,” said Ahamd, who was attending one of the educational and recreational forums for children held at the Manahel al-Taaleem Elementary School in the Quiche area in Benghazi. 

Schools  have been suspended in Benghazi and in some other Libyan cities since September 2014 due to ongoing clashes. Since then charities and volunteers have became active in organizing educational and recreational forums as well as competitions to allow children to attend school in the various safe areas of the city. 

Preparing students to go back to their schools

The forum  in the Quiche area was organized by the al-Isaaf and Istijaba (Relief and Response) Association, in cooperation with the al-Manahel Elementary School and targeted more than 500 children aged between 6-11. 

Six-year-old Bushra, a first grader, said she goes to school whenever she can, together with her sister in the sixth grade in order to have some fun and to do something useful with her friends. Her father picks up his daughters from school and takes them home.

According to Salama al-Mashiti, one of the founders of the association, the aim of the forum is to prepare students to join the coming school year after the long “holiday”.  “We have targeted children in the Quiche area as well as the displaced children who came to this area,” he said. 

Pupils from grades one to six, with a total number of 16 classrooms, can benefit from the forum. It is held in cooperation with the school administration and male and female teachers who volunteered to teach students for two hours a day, from 10-12, Sunday through Wednesday, to improve their skills. Thursdays were reserved only for recreational activities lasting for three hours. Salama added      “today was the last day of the forum during which the families of the martyrs and the volunteers were honored.” 

A safe area

According to al-Mashiti, this initiative has succeeded after many attempts of communicating with other schools in the area with the aim of organizing educational and recreational forums, but the head masters of these schools refused to participate claiming that they cannot take the responsibility of securing the safety of children and female teachers. 

The Quiche area is considered one of the oldest residential areas in Benghazi, located to the south of the city center. It is a very densely populated area with more than 10 elementary, secondary and high secondary schools, as well as the Ministry of Education’s office. 

Quiche did not witness violent clashes on its streets, but it saw the fall of some random rockets which did not cause any injuries or human losses, because it is located near to the Baloun area, one of the neighborhoods of al-Fuweihat, which is witnessing heavy fighting between the army on the one side and the Shura Council of Benghazi Revolutionaries on the other.

Nader al-Houni, Information Officer at the Interim Government’s Interior Ministry, said that in general, the neighborhoods of Benghazi are living in safe security conditions, but there is still the danger of random shelling in some areas. He added that the ministry has prepared a plan to impose security in the city of Benghazi and is waiting for the end of battles to implement it.  He also pointed out that the ministry has created a security room to protect children’s forums in agreement and cooperation with civil society organizations.

S. A., one of the female teachers participating in the forum told Correspondents: “Security conditions are stable because the people of the neighborhood are taking turns protecting it and its school in order to protect their own children.”

Forums for the displaced 

The security problem is not the only one impeding the continuation of education in Benghazi. Many of the school buildings have become shelters for internally displaced people. Many of the buildings need to be rebuilt as they are not suitable for schooling children. 

A. M. is a displaced woman now living in a school east of Benghazi.  Her six-year-old son was supposed to join his elementary school this year, but current conditions make it impossible. “I have another girl and boy who were already going to their secondary classes but for the last six months they have been living day and night inside the school, where we have temporarily settled, and this has had negative impacts on their behavior,” she said. 

The mother, who did not send any of her three children to the educational and recreational forums because they are very far from where they live, is impatiently waiting for the start of classes for displaced children living in the school, as has been promised by one of the volunteer young men in the city in order to help displaced children recover from their current state of frustration and isolation.

Muhammad Omar, a volunteer told Correspondents that there are indeed a number of voluntary organizations and charities now working on the preparation of school classes for displaced children living in schools. The charities hope to give children a feeling of respite from the atmosphere of war imposed on them while at the same time taking into consideration the financial conditions of their families.  Omar said all of the educational and recreational forums were free of charge.