TV Report on Anti-Assad Elementary School in Syria

Following are excerpts from a report on an elementary school in Jabal Al-Zawiya, Syria, which aired on the Al-Jazeera network on March 7, 2012:

Reporter: This is a school in Jabal Al-Zawiya which refused to stay loyal to the Assad regime. Its teachers and students have begun a new stage, under a new regime, led by the rebels, even though the regime has not yet been toppled. The school is now named after the first casualty of the revolution in this village – "The Martyr Isam'il Yahya Al-Moussa School."

Schoolchildren: "The people want to change the regime!"

"The people want to change the regime!"

Reporter: The students here demonstrate against the regime on a daily basis. They call for freedom and for the toppling of the regime, and they have abandoned the slogans dictated by the Assad regime, which they used to chant at morning assembly.

The students and teachers say that they expect a bright academic future after four lean decades.

Teacher: We teach the students to distinguish the militants from the regime's army. We teach them the goals and principles of the revolution, and the meaning of freedom. Of course, we are semi-independent from the Ministry of Education, and we refuse orders to quell demonstrations here.

Teacher to students: Where is the Syrian Arab army? On the Golan Heights? Where is it? Go ahead.

Student: It is in Homs, killing children and destroying their schools.

Teacher: Right. The Syrian Arab Army is not on the Golan Heights. Instead, it is in Homs, fighting children and destroying schools, which were built in order to educate your children.

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