NOS After seven months, the children in Hatay go back to school
NOS Nieuws•gisteren, 23:11
Mitra Nazar
correspondent Turkey
Mitra Nazar
correspondent Turkey
In the earthquake zone in southeastern Turkey, children are returning to school. Regular education resumed last week for the first time in seven months. In the hardest-hit province of Hatay, this was accompanied by mixed feelings. There was a lot of sadness, fear and worry.
For seven months, Filiz Camlica and her husband were always together with their four children. The earthquakes had completely turned their lives upside down, like those of so many people. Their house, just outside the city of Hatay, was severely damaged and became uninhabitable. They lost loved ones, neighbors and relatives. They had to survive for months. First in a tent, later a container home was built in their backyard.
The children were relieved that they could finally go back to school last week, she says. But it was also drastic. “They are doing their best to get on with their lives, but I can’t say they are doing well,” said Filiz. The earthquake scares her children easily, especially when it rains or thunderstorms. “Then they sleep poorly and are anxious. We all experienced it that night of the first earthquake. The shaking, the storm, the severe weather, everything came at once. The children still get upset regularly.”
Correspondent Mitra Nazar visited the first day of school in the earthquake zone in Hatay:
Seven months after the major earthquakes in Turkey, schools have reopened
They are concerned about the safety of the school building. It is located in the heart of Antakya, the district where the devastation after the disaster was greatest. There is still rubble from collapsed buildings everywhere, but the school building remained standing.
“They say the building is safe, but the children tell us that there is a large crack in the middle of the building.” As parents, they are in the dark, but they have no choice. “We send the children to school with fear. Because education is important. But we have no guarantees that it is safe.”
An estimated 23,000 people were killed in Hatay. That is almost half of the total number of victims spread across 11 provinces in southeastern Turkey. The disaster left some four million children without education.
When schools reopened on September 11, many children were confronted with classmates who are no longer there. “That hurts them a lot,” Filiz says. “A number of their friends died together with their parents. We only know about some of them now.”
Even my school uniform was left under the rubble
Sixteen year old Betul
It was also an emotional week for the teachers. Math teacher Nurettin Bolat lost several colleagues at the high school where he has worked for twelve years. “I’ve known for some time that they are dead. But walking around school makes it harder. Wherever you look, you see things that remind you of those colleagues who are no longer there.”
The first week of school was chaotic, he says. There are still many problems. For example, there are too few school buses and there is a lack of accommodation for teachers who have lost their homes or come from other parts of the country. There are reports of teachers having to sleep in their cars to get to school on time.
NOSBattered school gate in Hatay
Another problem is the living conditions of the students. Many children live in tent camps that lack good facilities. Teacher Bolat regularly checks in after school to see how things are going there.
In one of the tents he speaks with sixteen-year-old Betul. Before the earthquake, she was serious about school because she wanted to become a doctor. With tears in her eyes, she says that there is no way she can study for her exams in the tent. “I don’t have the right books. I don’t even have a table and a chair. There is no internet, I no longer have a tablet. Even my school uniform has been left under the rubble. I am at my wits’ end.”
Tears stream down her cheeks as she talks about what it was like to see her classmates again. About how they talked about that one friend who died under the rubble after a wall fell on her. “That’s a terrible way to die,” sobs the sixteen-year-old.
‘Without their minds’
Math teacher Bolat sees that his students are not mentally ready for school work. “Children who have lost loved ones or have been trapped under the rubble. Their minds are not there, it is as if they live in another world. I am talking about the majority of the students.”
He believes that attention to the mental state of children is seriously lacking at school. “We had to focus on math and science from day one. But these children are traumatized. Then you have to do other things for the first few months. There needs to be a special program for that. Psychological support.” He is also emotional himself. “Those children must be our priority. They are our hope. We must save them first, only then can the rest heal.”
2023-09-21 21:11:55
#school #Hatay #sadness #fear #worries
