“I was thrilled when I could go inside the school”
Welcome to “Hope Behind the Headlines,” a five-part series from humanitarian contexts around the world. Today we visit a war-ravaged Syria, where Yassin, a boy with a physical disability, can finally enter his school building.
Written by Deborah Wolfe
on August 26, 2025
Syria’s war delayed accessible education
He noticed everything about the children walking to school. How they talked, laughed and ran on the journey. The way their backpacks swung in the sunshine.
But Yassin couldn’t join them. He was born with lower-limb paralysis, turning each day into a gauntlet of challenges. For him, doorways, stairs and even local paths have been obstacles, not opportunities.
Even his local boys’ school was inaccessible, excluding Yassin from the learning he longed for.
Staff from the Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund join World Vision workers to visit classrooms such as Yassin’s. Here, Yassin shares his views about accessibility.
“I wanted to be with my friends,” he recalls. He wanted to sit in a classroom, he says, not just look in through the windows. He yearned to absorb all the teacher was explaining. He wanted to dream about his future, in earnest.
Children on the outside
While Yassin’s disability is congenital, thousands of Syria’s children have become disabled in their country’s civil war. Land mines have accounted for nearly one-third of all recorded injuries and deaths since 2011, when the war began.
Also, a massive earthquake in 2023 injured thousands of adults and children, as buildings tumbled to the ground. Many people could face decades of disability, barring the road to prosperous futures.
World Vision is helping rebuild schools in Syria, noting that many are inaccessible to children with disabilities. Stairs are just one barrier.
Life in Syria has grown gradually brighter since its 2024 regime change. Tens of thousands of refugees have returned to the country. Regions are rebuilding their programs, their infrastructures. There’s hope in the streets.
Schools turned to rubble
But that hasn’t changed the present reality of children with disabilities.
More than 14 years of conflict in Syria has damaged or destroyed some 7,000 schools. War has drastically delayed plans to build accessible schools—or to retrofit existing structures.
Many schools in Syria were destroyed by bombing or due to abandonment and weather damage. World Vision supports rebuilding programs.
Many schools’ entrances include stairs. Toilets are often inaccessible. Doors can be heavy and doorways too narrow. Shelves are out of reach. Most desks weren’t designed to accommodate wheelchairs.
Before the war, Syria emphasized its provision of “access to … education of all male and female children in rural and urban areas—with a focus on protection and care for those with special needs.”
Yet, more than a decade of civil conflict has shoved education down on Syria’s list of priorities. Far too many children watch their friends through school windows while they’re left outside.
More than one-third of the Syrian population over age two lives with a disability. War injuries, destruction, and lack of infrastructure are contributing factors.
Yassin’s school goes accessible
Yassin loved being near books and lessons and found some comfort going to work with his mother. She taught at a girls’ school, supported by World Vision Syria’s response to the country’s ongoing crisis.
“I was happy to be near learning,” says Yassin, while noting that he felt out of place. Not only did he struggle with a disability. He was a boy in a girls’ school.
Then, one day, Yassin’s mom had some exciting news. World Vision Syria would be helping improve accessibility at the nearby boys’ school! She shared the details with her son. Finally, he’d be able to learn comfortably and with dignity.
Haiti’s 2010 earthquake added 3,000 to 4,000 people with amputations to the nation’s overall total, after tumbling buildings trapped thousands of people.
“I was thrilled when my mother told me I could go to school with my friends,” Yassin beams. But how would this happen?
Teams of workers modified the boys’ school, installing stairs, adapting classrooms and creating accessible restrooms. For the first time, inclusive, fulfilling, dignified education was within Yassin’s reach. His God-given right was realized at last.
“I am happy at school”
Yassin and thousands of other children have recently returned to school—eager to embrace the opportunities war had placed beyond their grasp. It’s part of “Back to Learning,” a program from the Syria Cross-border Humanitarian Fund, to which World Vision contributes.
As a baby, Khaled (left) began losing his vision shortly after attacks on his Syrian town. He needs assistance with many daily tasks. Is education in his future?
Yassin the student is flourishing. And so is Yassin the child. Surrounded by friends, he’s finding joy not only in lessons but in the community that’s embraced him.
“I don’t want the holidays to come—I am happy at school,” he says.
“Back to Learning” has reached some 20,000 children with educational services and psychological care. World Vision is committed to helping Syria rebuild and won’t stop until every child can realize their inherent rights. Including education.