AP
Syrian children attend class at the public school in Madaya village as classes begin in the Idlib province countryside of Syria, Sept. 26, 2013.
Millions of Syrian children, most of them in government-controlled areas, have returned to school in the past two weeks, despite the conflict that according to UNICEF has left 4,000 Syrian schools, or one in five, damaged, destroyed or sheltering displaced families.
AP
Abdo al-Fikri, 12, walks to school from his family home in Madaya village as classes begin in the Idlib province countryside of Syria, Sept. 29, 2013.
It has been a year since al-Fikri and his siblings were last in school. The area has seen ongoing battles between opposition forces and troops loyal to President Bashar Assad, and like pretty much everything else in Madaya, the school was forced to shut down because of the violence.
AP
Ahmed al-Fikri sits with his sons and daughter, among them 12-year-old Abdo al-Fikri, second left, to eat lunch at their family house in Madaya village after school, Sept. 29, 2013.
Despite a constant risk of bombardment, al-Fikri and about 200 other pupils returned to school this week in a village desperately seeking normalcy in times of war. "We go to school in fear," al-Fikri said. "They shell us with rockets, airplanes and missiles."
AP
A Syrian child runs down stairs at the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
The Syrian war, now in its third year, has killed over 100,000 people and displaced millions. The spark for the uprising against Assad was a school in the country's southern city of Daraa, where teenagers sprayed anti-government graffiti on a wall. A heavy-handed response then sparked an uprising which has since escalated into an insurgency and civil war.
AP
Syrian children sit in their classroom in a public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
Activists say that in rebel-held areas, which have largely descended into chaos, more than half the schools are closed. The few that are functional are constantly under threat.
AP
Syrian children run down stairs at the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
In the Madaya school, a run-down facility in the northern province of Idlib, children brushed up on counting to ten in English. For many of them, just being back in the classroom is a reminder of what life was like before the war.
AP
Children sit in front of their family's house in Madaya village after school in the Idlib province countryside of Syria, Sept. 29, 2013.
AP
Ahmed al-Fikri helps his 12-year-old son Abdo al-Fikri, with his homework at their family house in Madaya village, Sept. 29, 2013.
al-Fikri said his son will eventually have to leave the school to fight Assad's army if the war continues. It will be a moral and religious duty, he added.
AP
Syrian children at the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
AP
A Syrian girl looks out of a window of the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
AP
Syrian children attend class at the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
AP
Syrian children attend class at the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
AP
A Syrian teacher leads a class at the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
AP
Syrian children attend class at the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
AP
Syrian children play football outside their homes in Madaya village after school, Sept. 29, 2013.
AP
A Syrian girl works at her desk at the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
AP
Syrian children attend class at the public school in Madaya village, Sept. 26, 2013.
AP
Abdo al-Fikri, 12, left, arrives to school in Madaya village as classes begin in the Idlib province countryside of Syria, Sept. 26, 2013. It has been a year since al-Fikri and his siblings were last in school.
AP
The brother of Ahmed al-Fikri sits with his son and daughter at his brother's family house in Madaya village in the Idlib province countryside of Syria, Sept. 29, 2013.
AP
Syrian children pose for a portrait in their classroom in the public school in Madaya village as classes begin in the Idlib province countryside, Sept. 26, 2013.
