Jindayris: In a dusty Syrian camp for earthquake survivors, school pupils line up and wait for a colorful bus to pull up. Since the disaster hit, they go to a classroom on wheels.
School bags on their backs and notebooks in hand, the children took off their shoes before entering the bus, then sat down along rows of desks fitted inside.
A teacher greeted them in the mobile classroom, decorated with curtains bearing children鈥檚 designs, before they broke into a song for their English class.
The February 6 quake killed nearly 6,000 people in Syria, many of them in the war-torn country鈥檚 rebel-held northwest, and also left tens of thousands dead in Turkiye.
The Syrian town of Jindayris, in Aleppo province near the Turkish border, was among the worst hit, with homes destroyed and school buildings either levelled or turned into shelters.
鈥淲e were living in Jindayris and the earthquake happened... and then we didn鈥檛 have homes anymore,鈥� said 10-year-old Jawaher Hilal, a light pink headscarf covering her hair.
鈥淲e came to live here and the school was very far away,鈥� said the fifth-grader now staying with her family at the displacement camp on the outskirts of town.

As relief services were set up, she told AFP, 鈥渢he buses came here and we started to study and learn. The buses are really nice, they teach us a lot.鈥�
The traveling classrooms are a project of the non-profit Orange Organization and service more than 3,000 children at some 27 camps, said education officer Raad Al-Abd.
鈥淭he mobile classrooms offer educational services as well as psychological support to children who were affected by the quake,鈥� he said.
More than three months after the quake, 3.7 million children in Syria 鈥渃ontinue to face desperate conditions and need humanitarian assistance,鈥� says the United Nations children鈥檚 agency UNICEF.
鈥淎lmost 1.9 million children have had their education disrupted, with many schools still being used as shelters,鈥� it added in a statement this month.

In northwest Syria alone, 鈥渁 minimum of 452 primary and secondary schools鈥� were reportedly damaged to varying degrees, the UN humanitarian agency OCHA said weeks ago.
鈥淢ore than 1 million school-aged children need education support and are at risk of being out of school,鈥� it said, adding that at least 25,000 teachers are also in need of help, including 鈥渕ental health and psychosocial support.鈥�
On another bus, boys and girls enthusiastically interacted with the teacher, balloons hanging from the ceiling, for lessons that included Arabic, math and science.
Outside in the bare dirt, children sang in a circle and clapped along with the educators.
As the buses left, pulling out through the road running between the camps鈥� tents, adjacent structures and trees, the children yelled out and waved goodbye.

Jawaher鈥檚 father Ramadan Hilal expressed relief and gratitude for the initiative.
鈥淎fter the earthquake there were no more schools or anything else,鈥� he said. 鈥淓ven though they wanted to establish schools, they are far away.鈥�