DAMASCUS, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Syria started the first day of the new school year on Sunday with an attendance of more than 4 million students, state news agency SANA reported.

A total of 14,000 schools were ready to receive the students on the first day of the new school year, SANA cited the Education Ministry as saying.

Despite the damage to the education system by the Syrian war that has lasted more than seven years, about 5,000 schools have been rehabilitated with an increasing number of areas recaptured by the government forces, the report said.

Around 300,000 teachers are now available in schools, 30,000 of whom were assigned in 2018, it added.

During the long-running war in Syria, many schools have been turned into shelters for internally displaced people.??