A toddler is held up to the camera in this still image taken from video said to be shot in Madaya on January 5, 2016 (Photo: Reuters)
The Syrian government has allowed 68 students to leave a besieged town near Damascus to take their year-end exams, Activists said.
Abdelwahab Ahmad, a media activist inside Madaya, says all ninth-graders requiring to take their year-end examinations were allowed to leave Saturday to sit the exams in nearby Rawda.
Government forces and allied militias have allowed relief groups only limited access to rebel-held Madaya since laying siege to it in July last year. Activists have recorded several deaths from starvation.
Ahmad says it is the first time the ninth-graders have been allowed to leave the town in 302 days.
The Britain-based activist monitoring group The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the deal resulted from negotiations between the government and Madaya's local council.
*The story was edited by Ahram Online.
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