Syrian students opt to learn 'Russian' language at school for better future
Student attending Russian language class
Omar al-Tawil, a 15-year-oldschoolboy in Damascus, is one of 24,000 Syrianyoungsters nowlearningRussianatschoolafter the country added the language of the government's most powerful ally to the curriculum.
Manyyoungpeople in Syria, where Moscow intervened in 2015 to help President Bashar al-Assad win back territory, are eager to studyRussianin order to travel to Russia or work inRussiancompanies they expect to appear in Syria in the future.
"At first we didn't understand anything and when we first heard the words we started to laugh, it was hard," said Tawil. "The teachers are helping us to love this language."
Radwan Rahhal, Coordinator of the Russianlanguage in the Syrian Education Ministry, said demand for the classes outstrips supply.
"We have more than 24,000 students who arelearningRussianand the number is increasing. But we cannot expand more than this in the meantime unless we have more teachers."
The Syrian Education Ministry addedRussianas anoptional second foreign language inschools after English or French in 2014. Graduates inRussianliterature willing to teach it to attend special courses supervised by experts from Moscow.
RussianPresident Vladimir Putin visited Syria on Tuesday for the second time since Moscow's decisive intervention and met Assad in Damascus.
Russianand Iranian support has helped Assad win back nearly all the territory lost to rebels who tried to overthrow him in a civil war that grew out of a crackdown on opposition protests nearly nine years ago.