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A damaged primary school after an airstrike in the opposition-controlled al-Ansari district of Aleppo last year

At the unofficial schools run by��Syrian activist group Kesh Malek in opposition-held districts of��Aleppo, the children don�鶹APP�t go outside to play during breaks in��case a barrel bomb should drop from the sky.

With 110 teachers, most of them new to the profession, the��organisation runs seven schools serving around 3000 children in��the divided and war-ravaged city.

Syria�鶹APP�s largest city before the civil war, Aleppo is the��scene of heavy bombardment as the Syrian army, backed by Russian��air strikes, tries to encircle it and wrest control of the��rebel-held areas that are home to around 350,000 people.

Marcell Shehwaro, executive director of , said the��group�鶹APP�s schools had closed for a holiday and had not re-opened��due to the intensified bombardment in recent days. She said she��did not know when they would re-open but had not lost hope.

�鶹APP�When working on education you feel how important it is that��there is another generation and this generation needs to have a��chance, the chance to have education,�鶹APP� she told Reuters in an��interview in London.

�鶹APP�We are thinking short-term. Let us deal with the situation��as it is now. If Aleppo is besieged tomorrow, we are going to��find a creative way to face that. It�鶹APP�s all about resistance.�鶹APP�

Kesh Malek has tried to locate its schools in basements��surrounded by high buildings �鶹APP� that present clear targets �鶹APP� to��provide some protection against aerial bombardments.

�鶹APP�Sometimes you feel ashamed of yourself, you are choosing��places where others are going to be bombed and you are��surrounded by protection, their houses are protection,�鶹APP� said��Shehwaro.

A former dentist who left the profession in 2010 to study��political science, she later became an early participant in��protests against President Bashar al-Assad that evolved into the��civil war that has killed at least 250,000 people across Syria��and driven 11 million from their homes.

A Christian, Shehwaro��serves Aleppo�鶹APP�s Sunni Muslim community.��The name Kesh Malek means checkmate, or defeat of the king��in chess, and refers to the group�鶹APP�s ideal of creating a��democratic republic in Syria rather than what it sees as Assad�鶹APP�s��dictatorship.

The group started setting up schools in Aleppo in 2011, at��first using normal school premises. But that changed after a��government bombardment in April 2014 on the Ein Jalout school in��the city. Shehwaro said 23 children had died in that attack.

Two children whose school was bombed in Aleppo pose in a mock-up to symbolise a destroyed classroom set up by charity Save the Children outside the Houses of Parliament in London on February 3 �鶹APP� ahead of the

���鶹APP�The worst case scenario is he (Assad) is going to target��schools. Right now none of our schools have a yard. We don�鶹APP�t��have sports or this kind of activity,�鶹APP� she said. �鶹APP�We replace��that with drawing and puppet shows and indoor activities.�鶹APP�

At first the schools were funded by the activists themselves��and their local supporters �鶹APP� but over time foreign donors have��offered support. Shehwaro cited Catholic aid groups Pax Christi��and Development and Peace as major sources of funding.

Nevertheless, the flow of funds is irregular and sometimes��teachers go without their salaries of about $115 a month.

Shehwaro said the group was political but the children were��not exposed to political slogans or campaigns.

�鶹APP�We don�鶹APP�t want them to know about the revolution but we��want them to know they have rights,�鶹APP� she said.

Gender is a major focus for Shehwaro, who describes herself��as a feminist. Activities have included encouraging girls to��formulate dreams for the future such as becoming a president or��a carpenter, and one of the services on offer is home schooling��for girls who married early.

Shehwaro said one of the difficulties was that 80% of the teachers were inexperienced and most of them were women who had little access to relevant training as most programmes available in Syria targeting women focused on areas like sewing or cooking.

�鶹APP�Let us break this view of Middle Eastern women �鶹APP� We should be enabling them in every sector they are trying to work in, not only what we assume is a sector they should work in.�鶹APP�

Another problem is the psychological strain of war, which requires traumatised teachers to find creative ways to talk to children about themes such as death, hatred, and the future.

�鶹APP�The teachers themselves are burnt out, the students are burnt out,�鶹APP� said Shehwaro.

�鶹APP�One of the teachers said to me, �鶹APP�why are we teaching children who are going to die next week?�鶹APP� To me it�鶹APP�s harsh, but it has its own logic. They look at the children and imagine that they are going to be the next victims.�鶹APP�

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