Students return to schools in Syria
Newshour
BBC
4.2 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2024
⏱️ 47 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Universities, schools and public institutions have officially reopened across Syria today, the first time since rebel groups took control of the country. This comes the UN envoy Geir Pedersen says he supports lifting sanctions on the Islamist group that led the offensive that toppled Bashar al-Assad. On his first visit to Damascus since Assad fled a week ago, Mr Pedersen urged justice, not revenge - and he called for increased and immediate aid.
Also in the programme: Five people convicted of drug offences in Indonesia have returned to Australia after two decades in prison; and we hear from Bollywood superstar Aamir Khan who has co-produced a film that's vying for an Oscar.
(Picture: Students sit in a classroom at a school in Damascus. Credit: Ammar Awad/REUTERS)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to NewsAour from the BBC World Service. We're coming to you live from London. I'm James Menendez. |
| 0:09.9 | And we're going to begin in Syria a week after rebel fighters swept into the capital Damascus and the former president Bashar al-Assad fled the country to Moscow, ending more than 50 years of family dictatorship. |
| 0:23.2 | The United Nations envoy to the country has arrived to support the process of forming a new government in Syria. |
| 0:30.8 | And also today, schools and universities reopen for the first time since the collapse of the regime. |
| 0:36.7 | This little girl spoke to the BBC. |
| 0:39.3 | Al-Salamu al-a-a-a-a-o. |
| 0:41.6 | Hello, my name is Lina al-Haras, and I'm eight years old. |
| 0:49.0 | My school is called Sin Ascham, and I'm in year three. |
| 0:53.5 | I think I really missed school, and I hope to become a doctor. |
| 0:58.2 | I think in the future we'll have playgrounds to play in. |
| 1:01.1 | Bye. |
| 1:01.8 | Bye. |
| 1:03.9 | And in Damascus, these university students were heading back to class. |
| 1:13.6 | As a 22-year-old and really not interested in politics, any change is scary for everyone. |
| 1:18.7 | So I was like really terrified about what's going to happen. |
| 1:21.5 | When they actually entered Damascus, I was crying my heart out. |
| 1:25.4 | I was like, oh my God, I'm not going to be able to go to university again. |
| 1:28.8 | I mean, like, so I'm really happy. |
| 1:30.6 | I couldn't sleep last night. |
| 1:33.4 | It's mind-blowing to be like a regime, a full regime, has fallen in one week. |
| 1:39.0 | We don't have freedom speech when the Assad regime was here, but now we have, thankfully. |
| 1:45.3 | Well, live to Damascus to talk to the BBC's correspondent there, Lena Sinjab. |
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