Road to the Future IOM provides school transportation for Syrian refugee children in Iraq Funded by U.S. State Department Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM)

Raziah sits quietly by the window of the bus, a textbook open on her lap. Blocking out the chatter and laughter of the other children, she diligently studies the pages of her book. “I have a test at school today, and I want to be prepared,” she explains as the vibrant landscape of the Dahuk countryside races past her window.

Dressed in a grey and red school uniform, with a white blouse buttoned up to the top, Raziah is one of hundreds of Syrian children to ride school buses every day organised by the In-ternational Organisation of Migration (IOM) Iraq mission.

“I love going to school – I love coming to learn,” the 11-year-old says, her intense green eyes glistening with excitement.

Like many of her friends sitting beside her on the bus, Raziah initially resided in Domiz camp in Dahuk, the largest Syri-an refugee camp in Iraq, which is home to almost 60,000 refugees and houses five schools. Yet with the opening of a smaller counterpart nearby, Domiz II, many families such as Raziah’s were resettled in December 2013.

“Then the buses were organised and I could continue going to my school in Domiz, which I love,” Raziah says.

With dreams of becoming an English teacher, the young girl from Qamishli, Syria, is one of 475 students that are transport-ed daily from Domiz II to five basic and secondary schools in Domiz camp. In cooperation with UNICEF, the initiative began in January 2014.

Many Syrian families in camps have faced difficulties sending their children to school. Domiz II has not yet opened its own school, and taxis to the schools in Domiz camp, some 3km away, are too costly for most of the refugees that have fled the violence in neighbouring Syria. Before the transportation initiative was launched, many children had no choice but to stay at home.

Some students, like Raziah, were lucky to have little disruption in their education, but others have gone for months or years without being able to go to school.

“My children used to cry because they wanted to go to school, but there was nothing I could do,” Sofiyah laments. “I was too scared to let them walk the distance on their own.”

The mother of four from Derika in northeastern Syria said worrying about her children’s education kept her up at night.

On the Bus...

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“But now my children can take the buses, which makes them so happy, and I can sleep soundly at night,” she explains.

IOM worked with the UNICEF-run schools in Domiz camp to obtain the names of their students living in Domiz II, making sure no child gets left behind. The schools in Domiz operate in two shifts – some kids attending in the mornings, some in the eve-nings – so the buses drive to and from school four times a day.

“The number of children has increased rapidly every week since the start of the project,” Shahad, the logistics and procurement assistant at IOM Dahuk, says. “Now, every child that wants to go to school has a place on one of our buses.”

Twice a day, the intersection between the main roads in the camp turns into a humming bus station, with children carrying oversized pink backpacks weaving in and out of the buses. Kawa, Sofiyah’s husband and the focal point in charge of the children’s transportation from the camp, attempts to contain the excite-ment of the children and organise them into orderly lines.

“When the war came to our town in Syria, there was fighting in the streets and we were too scared to send our children to school,” Rokistan, whose daughter Khalida goes to school on these buses, recalls.

“Here, I know she is safe,” the 40-year-old says, carrying her youngest in her arms.

When the Department of Education of Dahuk Governorate and UNICEF, together with UNHCR and the Development and Modification Centre (DMC), kickstarted the Schooling Program for school-aged Syrian refugee children in December 2013, the

Sofiyah and her children in Domiz II

“My children used to cry because they wanted to go to school, but there was nothing I could do. I was too scared to let them walk on their own.”

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problem of transportation from Domiz II became apparent.

In January 2014, IOM launched its transportation assistance for school children, which, with current funding from the Bu-reau of Population, Refugees and Migration of the U.S. De-partment of State, will run until September 2014. The initiative now allows 975 children to reach school everyday.

These include students from Waar city, a suburb of Dahuk that houses hundreds of Syrian families, who are attending tem-porary classes in Domiz II until their school is fully renovated.

“I am so happy I can go to school again, because I need it for my future,” Samy says, standing on the basketball court of the Rojava school in Domiz camp.

Since arriving in Iraq a year and a half ago, the 13-year-old has been out of school, selling candy in the camp to support his mother and siblings. His father died in an explosion in a market in Aleppo, forcing the family to flee to Qamishli and then to Iraq.

The buses now allow Samy to go back to school every day, studying for his dream to become a translator. “Eventually I want to go abroad to work,” he says.

The initiative to provide school buses is a new and vital pillar of IOM Iraq’s larger mission to assist in the transport of Syrian refugees in the region of Kurdistan. Having escaped a harrow-ing conflict, IOM has ensured the safe transfer of over 56,000 Syrians in Iraq.

Rokistan and her child in Domiz II

“I am so happy I can go to school again, because I need it for

my future.”

Samy with his classmates in Rojava School3

The majority of these refugees have been guided from the Iraqi side of the Peshkhabour and Sehela border crossings to various camps throughout the Kurdistan region. Arriving with little more than the clothes on their back, they trust in IOM to provide safe and secure transportation to their new homes in exile.

In Dahuk the transportation assistance has given the chil-dren of Domiz II a joyous and hopeful dimension to their lives as refugees.

“For the children, staying in the tents is almost dangerous,” Hakar Abdul Aziz, an English teacher in Rojava school, says. “There is no space for them to move and be active.”

“But the school is great for them, they get to learn and in-teract with friends,” the 24-year-old, himself a refugee from Qamishli in Syria, emphasises.

For the Syrian children living difficult lives as refugees, the buses provide more than access to education. For students like Raziah, the bus ride is also their very own safe haven, a space that allows them to be children.

“Sometimes, on the bus on our way to school we have fun competitions between the boys and girls,” Raziah says, giggling to herself. “We play a lot and I get to learn, so I love going on the bus,” she adds. And with that, Raziah joins her friends, climbing into the bus to a brighter future.

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Raziah, student at Rojava school

© IOM Iraq - March 2014

For more information, please visit: http://www.iomiraq.net