The closure of schools in Syria by the Islamic State has led to an estimated 670,000 children being deprived of education, the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) said on Tuesday.
The schools were forcibly closed in November in order for the curriculum to be conformed to the terrorist organization's religious rules, according to Agence France-Presse. ISIS, an offshoot of al-Qaeda which has seized land in Syria and Iraq, is popularly known to impose its strict reading of Islamic law in all the areas the group controls.
"In December there was a decree of the Islamic State ordering the stoppage of education in areas under its control," UNICEF spokesman Christophe Boulierac told a news briefing in Geneva. "Islamic State said that the curriculum needed to be reshaped or re-conceived."
Currently schools are pending a religious revision of the curriculum in eastern Syria, yet another reminder of the "terrible price" Syria's children are paying amid the country's chaos, Reuters reported.
"In addition to lack of school access, attacks on schools, teachers and students are further horrific reminders of the terrible price Syria's children are paying in a crisis approaching its fifth year," said Hanaa Singer, a UNICEF representative in Syria.
Out of 4.3 million Syrian children enrolled nationwide during this school year, between 2.1 million and 2.4 million are currently either out of school or attending classes irregularly, according to the education ministry.
With teachers required to undergo training as the school curriculum is made "compliant with the religious rules," children enrolled in primary and secondary schools in Raqqa, and rural areas of Deir al-Zor and Aleppo provinces have mostly been affected.
In addition, between 1.3 million and 1.6 million Syrian children have been prevented from attending school as a result of the now five-year civil war, which has killed more than 200,000 and displaced half the country's population.
Last year, at least 160 children were killed and 343 injured in the 68 reported attacks on schools across Syria, UNICEF said. However, the figures were probably an underestimate due to the challenges of access and obtaining data, Boulierac said.
Meanwhile, ISIS has already overhauled school curriculums in parts of Iraq.
In September, history, geography and literature lessons in Mosul schools were eliminated, with a ban issued by the group only allowing religious studies to be taught, Bloomberg reported.
