Changing Schools Syrian School


Changing Schools

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We've followed school life around the world from Uganda,

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to India, to China.

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Now we're in Damascus, Syria, the oldest capital city on Earth

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in the heart of the Arab world.

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Following a year in the lives of four schools in Damascus, we look at Syria's next generation.

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What is life really like in this high pressure crossroads of the Middle East?

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There are signs that Syria is opening up, but it remains dominated

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by a single party and Syrians have limited political freedom.

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Education's compulsory for boys and girls until 15 and free up to university level.

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Like anywhere in the world, school life is about much more than just books.

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In this programme it's the start of a new school year.

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Amal Hassan is the head teacher

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of Zaki al-Arsuzi Girls' Secondary School.

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She makes sure everyone knows who's boss.

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Du'aa comes from a devout Muslim family

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and until now she's been educated at Islamic school.

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But this term she's moved to the more liberal Zaki al-Arsuzi School

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where most of her classmates come from different backgrounds.

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Across town at Jaramana Boys' School, Yusif is football mad.

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He's an Iraqi refugee who lived through the bombs of Baghdad.

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Now in Syria, he must start to overcome his fear of explosions.

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We follow their stories as they begin the new academic year at their Syrian schools.

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It's September...

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Set in the affluent Al-Mazraa area of Damascus,

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Zaki al-Arsuzi Girls' Secondary School prepares for the first day of term.

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Looking forward to guiding another batch of students to graduation, is head teacher, Mrs Amal Hassan.

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I want them to see how strong I am

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and how I am proud of myself.

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And how I am free from inside.

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And this is very good for them to face all the problem of the life, they have to be like this.

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Today is the first day of Mrs Hassan's 17th year as head teacher here.

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-Are you happy to be back at school?

-No, we're not.

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The girls are finding their classes for the new school year.

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17-year-old Mayas Barazi was so disruptive last year

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that she's been moved to a different class.

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It's my friend and their class, I'm here. I don't know any girls here.

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We miss her so much.

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-They cannot accept us because we are so naughty.

-Yes.

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THEY LAUGH

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BELL RINGS

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Zaki al-Arsuzi is a state school which teaches 1,200 girls aged from 15 to 18.

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Like most Syrian schools it's secular

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and follows the Baccalaureate system, teaching the full range of subjects.

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Mr Nablisi gets up to speed in physics.

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Mr Houssam tackles life's big questions in philosophy.

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And in the next door class room, Mrs Ramadan sets out her stall with Islamic studies.

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What's different about the beginning of this school year

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is that it coincides with the start of the holy month of Ramadan.

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Muslims aren't supposed to eat or drink until sundown.

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The school doesn't enforce this but as a concession there's no PE and the tuck shop's closed.

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At least on the first day of term the girls can wear whatever clothes they like.

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They want to show at the beginning of the year that they are girls,

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beautiful girls, for the teachers, for me for each other. Yes.

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But beautiful or not, school supervisor Miss Rehab wants

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to make sure that for the girls these relaxed rules only last for one day.

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They can wear whatever they want this day.

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Tomorrow you not know them.

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They are quite different tomorrow.

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The holy month of Ramadan has just begun.

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It celebrates the start of God's revelation of the Koran to the Prophet Mohammed.

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Late afternoon and the streets are jammed with hungry, thirsty people fighting to get home.

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Towards sunset, at a time that would normally be rush hour, the traffic gradually trickles away.

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Families gather at home and friends meet at restaurants.

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Huge fire crackers and the sun set call to prayer tell the faithful

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it's time to begin their Iftar meal, a word normally used for breakfast.

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The new moon hangs over the city

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which will follow the Ramadan daily cycle, for a whole lunar month.

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Every day before dawn the city is awoken by drummers.

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Waking the faithful to eat a sustaining meal that will take them through the day ahead.

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Day two at Zaki al-Arsuzi School

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and Mrs Hassan is checking her girls have come in their uniform.

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16-year-old Du'aa Bazazi is a new girl at Zaki al-Arsuzi,

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so she's got a new bus route to master.

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The great majority of schools in Syria are secular

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but, until now, Du'aa has been educated at a Sharia school run according to Islamic principles.

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But Du'aa switched schools to non-religious Zaki al-Arsuzi in order to focus on her academic studies

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for the crucial last year of her Baccalaureate.

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Some Muslim girls at Zaki al-Arsuzi don't wear the hijab, the traditional Islamic head scarf.

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Du'aa's Islamic Sharia school was a different world.

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Her new head teacher, a Muslim woman from a different generation, has noticed a change of fashion.

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From ten years ago, the girl will not cover.

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Now most of them they are covered.

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Why I don't know.

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So Mrs Hassan has come to Du'aa's class in a spare lesson to explore the reasons.

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New girl, Du'aa, decides to join the debate.

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I want them to be free from inside.

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It's Mrs Hassan's job to deal with all the challenges that come with her position.

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Not everyone can be headmistress because it is very difficult to,

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to know everything about your students, about your teachers.

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Vice head, Lina, is dealing with an issue that every school faces at the beginning of the year.

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Now it's the hardest time of preparing the timetable.

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The difference here is that many of the teachers also work in other schools to boost their income.

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So it's a logistical nightmare to sort out the timetable to fit in with everyone's different work schedules.

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Things have got so bad that Mrs Hassan has called a teacher's meeting to set things straight.

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Drive an hour south from Damascus and you reach Israeli occupied territory.

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An hour to the west and you're in Lebanon.

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And four hours to the east is the border with Iraq.

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Damascus and its schools feel the effects of nearby events.

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Since the fall of Saddam in 2003, two million Iraqi refugees have

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fled to Syria, their first stop in their quest for a new life.

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15-year-old Yusif Andrios and his older brother, Johnson,

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are Iraqi Christians from Baghdad, but for now they live in Damascus.

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As a refugee, Yusif is eligible for a free school uniform from the UN

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as he's about to start life at a new school.

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Syria is proud of the haven it's offered, but many Iraqis have

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suffered high levels of psychological trauma before arriving here.

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After picking up his new school uniform, Yusif returns home.

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He lives with his family in the Damascus suburb of Jaramana.

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Historically, it's a religiously mixed area of the city.

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So it's been a magnet for Iraqi Christians who have suffered badly in the sectarian violence

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that engulfed their home land after the fall of Saddam.

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Yusif loves football.

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He spends his evenings playing with his fellow Iraqis at a local Damascus football club...

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...or with his brothers watching his favourite team in a nearby cafe.

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But not tonight, because tomorrow Yusif is going to start life at a new school.

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At midnight tonight Yusif's brother, James,

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will leave Syria to start a new life as a barber in Sweden.

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He'll be joining his wife who's already managed to get a visa.

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When will you see your brother again?

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-Spiky?

-Yeah.

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It's my only brother.

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It's time for James to start saying goodbye to his family.

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I want to cry.

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Morning, and Jaramana is waking up.

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With his brother already about to touch down in Stockholm, Yusif setting off for his new school.

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The staff are getting ready.

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Yusif has been in Damascus for two years already, so there are some familiar Iraqi boys

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who are also starting at the Jaramana School today.

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BELL RINGS

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The school teaches 500 boys up to the age of 15.

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The only problem is it was built for 300.

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New head teacher Mrs Seif is struggling to cope.

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These boys are not just from different countries, but different faiths as well.

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The school is secular,

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but teaches both Islamic and Christian religious studies.

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So school supervisor Radwan

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needs to know who will study what.

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-Good morning, teacher.

-Sit down.

-Thank you.

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On the first day of term, the boys are told not to assert their differences.

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Yusif is no stranger to conflict after life in Iraq, where even a kickabout could be life-threatening.

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In Iraq, Yusif had been expecting to play in front of a visiting group of Dutch talent scouts,

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but his brother's death meant that he had to leave the country before he could show them his skills.

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Now he's in Damascus, he's safe to follow his sporting dreams.

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But in his first PE lesson, it seems sports teacher Mrs Fallouh is less of a football fan than he is.

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Before long, Yusif realises that today's PE lesson will be all talk and no action.

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Until the fall of Saddam, Iraqis and Syrians lived

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under different versions of the same political system, Ba'athism.

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Ba'ath is Arabic for renaissance.

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The Ba'ath Party was founded in Damascus in 1940 after the end of French colonial rule.

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It's based on secular and socialist ideals.

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Images of the president, leader of the Ba'ath Party, still look on citizens from every angle.

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The Syrian constitution says that,

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"the Ba'ath party is the leader of state and society."

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The party organisation stretches into everyday school life.

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At Zaki al-Arsuzi, Sarah Shbat hopes to become the leader of the Ba'athist school structure.

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So from now on the girls will have to pass her uniform check just to get into school.

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School supervisor Mrs Rehab Zweed

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is grooming Sarah to take over the position of head girl.

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While she may seem hard on her fellow students, Miss Rehab regrets some of the liberalising reforms

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introduced in 2001 when President Bashar al-Assad came to power.

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At morning assembly, she's given Sarah the role of acting Head Girl.

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NATIONAL ANTHEM PLAYS

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After the national motto, Sarah gets to raise the national flag

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to the strains of the Syrian national anthem.

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Young Syrians may now have more freedom to choose their futures than before,

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but the Ba'ath party is still effectively the only political option for them.

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It's time for the school prefect elections.

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All the candidates and voters have to be active members of Syria's Revolution Youth Union.

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Today, Sarah can get a step closer to being confirmed as the new Head Girl.

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CALLING OUT NAMES

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Mayas puts herself forward despite sometimes being known as a disruptive student.

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And although Sarah's the frontrunner,

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she needs Miss Rehab's help to add her name to the list of candidates.

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Only the top seven girls will become leaders of the school's

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seven sub-committees, ranging from Head of Sports to Head of Media.

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The other union members filter away after voting,

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leaving just the candidates behind to witness the count of the votes.

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HE CALLS OUT NAMES

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Syrian democracy is very limited.

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In national elections, the Ba'ath party is guaranteed a majority in parliament.

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And instead of presidential elections, there's a referendum

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every seven years when the President stands, unopposed.

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Finally, it's time to hear the results.

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Although Sarah got the most votes, it's up to the adults of the student union to make the final decision on

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the eventual roles she and the six other top candidates will be given.

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Despite the fact that Sarah won the most votes, her father is not entirely happy with her.

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Her father's criticism seems particularly harsh as Sarah and a few friends have been

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keeping up their basketball practice, despite the fact they are fasting for Ramadan.

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One of Sarah's friends is Mayas Barazi

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who was so naughty last year that she was nearly thrown out of school.

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But she is popular enough to have clinched the seventh leadership position against the odds.

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Jaramana Boys is a religiously mixed school with a lot of Christian Iraqi refugees.

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It's full to bursting point and, at break times, it can get pretty rough.

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Everyone competes for very limited space.

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Today, Yusif's Iraqi friends, Fadi and Steven, have got into trouble.

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They've been called in to see supervisor, Miss Summer.

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Yusif gets roped in as a witness.

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Today, there's a chance for Yusif to try to put the past behind him.

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60 miles outside Damascus is the mainly Christian town of Malula.

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There's an expectancy in the air as the town prepares for the annual all-night Festival of the Cross.

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Back in Damascus, 30 buses are waiting to take

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members of Jaramana's refugee community to the party.

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It's an opportunity for Iraqi Christians like Yusif and his brother, Johnson,

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to reassert and celebrate their Christian identity after persecution in Iraq.

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The crowds are gathering in Malula for the all-night firework festival.

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For Yusif, it will be a raw reminder of the sounds of war.

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FIREWORKS EXPLODE

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As the light fades, processions set-off into the surrounding mountains.

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Fire handlers have taken up positions above the town

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from where they will orchestrate a fearsome display.

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FIREWORKS EXPLODE

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Tonight, Yusif will have to confront his fear of loud bangs head on.

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First, they visit the chapel of the Convent of St Takla where an all-night vigil is already underway.

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The focal point of the ceremony is the Christian symbol of the cross.

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The party will continue throughout the night.

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Simply letting off firecrackers marks progress for Yusif,

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who lived through the American bombardment of Baghdad.

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But, perhaps, he will never fully get over his fear...

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-BANG!

-...of loud bangs.

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The Festival of the Cross has coincided with the third week of Ramadan.

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And in Damascus, where over 80% are Muslims, the holy month is gathering in intensity.

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Du'aa Bazazi is no exception.

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She'd memorised the entire Koran by the time she was 14.

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And went to Sharia school until she moved to secular Zaki al-Arsuzi

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this term to concentrate on preparing for the Baccalaureate exams.

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For Du'aa, there is no contradiction between devout religious conviction and a desire for

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a modern education.

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As a child, Du'aa dreamed of space travel.

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Du'aa has now been at Zaki al-Arsuzi for nearly a month.

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But before the holiday hits, newly elected prefect, Mayas Barazi,

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is among those who've been picked to take part in a new innovation in Syrian education.

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Mayas and her team get down to work on their pitch.

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Little do they know that the school is about to host a very special guest.

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Asma al-Assad, the First Lady of Syria, is known for making surprise

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visits to these workshops and today she's come to Zaki al-Arsuzi.

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APPLAUSE

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The First Lady was born and went to school in England

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before marrying Bashar al-Assad, now President of Syria.

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She represents the newly evolving free market face of the country.

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She makes her way around the groups as they prepare their business presentations.

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Asma al-Assad had a successful financial career in the City of London,

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so she's well-qualified to grill the girls on their business strategies.

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CALL TO PRAYER

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On the way out, the First Lady is mobbed before she can reach her car.

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CHEERING

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After a whole month of fasting, Ramadan is about to end,

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so it's time for some last minute present-shopping before the Eid holiday.

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That evening, the final firework is lit to mark sundown.

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And the streets fall silent for the last time as people break their fast.

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The moon has waxed and waned and Ramadan is over for another year.

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Dawn on the first day of Eid.

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Damascus awakes to the end of Ramadan.

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In the old city, the ancient Umayyad mosque is filling up with worshippers

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gathering for their Eid prayer.

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Across town, Du'aa and her sisters arrive at their local mosque to share the celebration.

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THEY CHANT

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While the men gather in the main hall, the women find their place upstairs

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to repeat an act of worship that they've done since childhood.

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Across Damascus, the prayer begins.

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Once the special Eid prayer has been said, the normal devotional cycle is repeated three times through.

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CHANTED PRAYER

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The end of the prayer brings a month of fasting to a close and the Eid holiday begins.

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Slowly, the streets fill with children wearing their new clothes and playing with their Eid presents.

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Small fairgrounds spring up in the city's parks.

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Many take advantage of the family gathering to pay their respects at the graves of their ancestors.

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Du'aa and her sisters have come to pay a special holiday visit to their grandfather.

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Back to school after Eid, and the tuck shop has thrown open its doors.

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PE is back on the timetable...

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For Sarah, back to school means hitting the drill square with Rehab.

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Du'aa has got through her first month in the school.

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She's had time to assess her move to Zaki al-Arsuzi.

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The local Youth Union has come to reveal their final decision

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on the student leadership for the rest of the school year.

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It's Mayas's chance to pitch for the job she really wants.

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On the next Syrian School...

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can two Palestinian refugee rappers break the mould?

0:58:140:58:18

To find out more from the Open University about schools in Syria -

0:58:180:58:23

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