Syrian Citizenship Disappeared from attending school by a whole month. Most of my children did not study beyond the secondary stage either, because there were no guarantees that they would get a university certificate.”87 Resheed Hasan Hussein was born in Ras al-Ein/ Sari Kani in 1977. He is married with two daughters, and is still maktum. The most saddening part for him is not having been able to pursue his education: “None of my family members studied beyond the primary stage because maktumeen were not entitled to get diplomas, both from private and public universities. Even in school, registration required a residence permit from the mukhtar. But even though I drop out at the time I was in sixth grade, I kept reading books and magazines; my main concern was not to be illiterate.”88 Abu Mohammed, an alias, was born in Amouda city in 1965. He is married with five children and was stateless until he acquired the Syrian nationality in application of Decree No. 49. Not having been able to access education remains, for him too, a considerable loss: “The mood of the head teacher and the officers in the Directorate of Education dictated the years entitled for our education. For university, an approval from the Ministry of Education was essential. During schools, we were unable to took part in the entertainment trips as if we were outcasts. Few of the stateless were able to be civil servants, and it was under the condition of becoming an informer for the state.”89 87 STJ’s field researcher conducted a direct interview with him in al-Hasakah city in July 2018. 88 STJ conducted a direct interview with him in Ras alEin/Sari Kani in July 2018. 89 STJ’s field researcher conducted a direct interview with him in al-Hasakah city in July 2018. Badi’ah Farhan Hasan was born in Qamishli in 1948 and is married with four children. Some of her family members are citizens, while others became maktumeen as a result of the 1962 census. She recounts for STJ how her children encountered obstacles on their educational experience: “A heart-wrenching occasion was when my daughter came back from school one day crying because the head teacher had dismissed her from school and told her to stay at home to do the housework under the pretext of her not having a record like the other students. I tried to explain to him that her father was a stateless but he insisted on dismissing my daughter. I was so upset I told him in Kurdish that if I had a gun, I would shoot him dead no matter if it meant I’d go to jail for life.” Badi’ah’s daughter completed her education until the secondary stage and was a superior student, but was not entitled to enrol at university: “Later, we managed to register some of my children at university on condition of not obtaining the diploma. People kept saying that children’s future was doomed but I insisted they study although we were destitute. When my daughter graduated from the English Department, she went to the college hoping to receive the diploma but the employee refused to deliver it to her because my daughter had had no identity card; my daughter cried and told her that she had worked harder than anyone else, but that did not work.”90 Yalmaz Lukman Othman was born in al-Hasakah in 1992. He became a Syrian citizen in application of the Decree No. 49. The impact of the obstacles he had faced during his educational pathways would, however, be long-lasting: 90 STJ’s field researcher conducted a direct interview with her in Qamishli in March 2018. 29