AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
It is, in many respects, a new world for students in Damascus, who went back to school today. They've been out since December 6 after rebels pushed toward Syria's capital, bringing an end to the regime of Bashar al-Assad. NPR's Hadeel Al-Shalchi spent time at one school and reports that it was a morning of mixed emotions.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
HADEEL AL-SHALCHI, BYLINE: The iconic voice of the Lebanese diva Fairuz rings through the speakers across the playground of Al-Sharif al-Radi Elementary School in Damascus. Principal Abeer Halima watches her pupils run around. She greets parents and teachers with hugs and kisses. Some parents look worried as they drop off their children. Ibrahim al-Khudr stands at the school's gate, a cigarette in his hand. He cranes his head to make sure his 7-year-old daughter makes it through the school doors.
IBRAHIM AL-KHUDR: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: There's some fear because things are chaotic right now, Khudr says. It's the first day back for children in Damascus after Syrian rebel forces entered the capital last week. Khudr says it was still very important for him to bring back his daughter.
AL-KHUDR: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: "Education is a must," he says. "She needs to be educated." Emad al-Masri's son sprints into the playground.
EMAD AL-MASRI: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: "The kid is usually late to school," he says. "Today, he couldn't wait to come." It's obvious the school has few resources. The building is run-down, and the classrooms are cold. The peeling walls are covered with paintings of seashells, flowers. The school makes do with what they have.
(SOUNDBITE OF SCHOOL BELL RINGING)
AL-SHALCHI: It's time for the students to gather. The children scurry into straight lines for an assembly. Principal Halima greets them with a good morning.
UNIDENTIFIED SCHOOLCHILDREN: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: It's not loud enough.
ABEER HALIMA: (Speaking Arabic).
UNIDENTIFIED SCHOOLCHILDREN: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: The sound of gunfire is audible over the playground during the assembly. Normally, the students sing the Syrian national anthem. Today is the first day they won't.
HALIMA: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: "We'll be learning about the new flag," the principal tells her students, "learning about a new future, not to be afraid."
HALIMA: (Speaking Arabic).
UNIDENTIFIED SCHOOLCHILDREN: (Speaking Arabic).
HALIMA: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: Then she points her finger to the sky and asks, who is with us? She waits for the students to reply, with God. The Free Syrian Army, a couple of boys shout instead. The children eventually disperse to their classrooms.
MAYSOON MOHAMED: (Speaking Arabic).
UNIDENTIFIED SCHOOLCHILDREN: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: Forty-five-year-old teacher Maysoon Mohamed asks her students if they missed her. "A lot, a lot," they shout. Mohamed says she's so happy to be back at work. Wearing a fashionable jacket and knee-high leather boots, she hugs Principal Halima tightly, and tears run down her face. Fearing for their safety, Mohamed and her family fled to their village outside Damascus last week.
MOHAMED: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: "I asked God that he'll bring us back together," she says. School inspector Najaat al-Adi buzzes around the hallways, greeting the teachers with kisses and embraces. She interrupts Mohamed's class to say hello.
NAJAAT AL-ADI: (Speaking Arabic).
UNIDENTIFIED SCHOOLCHILDREN: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: Adi, who worked as an inspector under the old regime, says she received new orders from the interim minister of education, who was the deputy minister under President Bashar al-Assad. The instructions say she must make sure all remnants of the Assad regime have been taken down in the 60 schools she oversees.
AL-ADI: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: Take down the old flag. Raise the new one, and paint the new flag on the walls. The custodian gets right to work. In a small storage room, he stacks up framed pictures of Assad and his father who ruled before him.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: He runs them to the trash. He's obviously been busy. Crudely painted third stars have been carefully added to the center of the old Syrian flags. They're scattered around the school. In the new Syria, like the old, symbols are very important. Assad had clamped down on freedom of speech and cultivated an atmosphere of fear, and now sectarianism is at the forefront of the new Syria.
Alawites, the sect Assad hails from, and Shiites are particularly worried about where they will fit in. Adi says that fear is obvious today. Usually there are 600 students at the school. Only 100 showed up today.
AL-ADI: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: "Many families of all sects didn't send their children to school," Adi says. But teacher Mohamed says she's hopeful that will change.
MOHAMED: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: "We were raised in fear," she says. "It's unbelievable that we can express what's inside us now." And is Adi hopeful for a new Syria?
AL-ADI: (Speaking Arabic).
AL-SHALCHI: She doesn't answer yes or no. "God willing," she says.
Hadeel Al-Shalchi, NPR News, Damascus. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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