Teenagers across the country are nervously awaiting their GCSE results, but Syrian schoolboy Jamal Hijazi wishes that was all he had to worry about.
The 16-year-old escaped the war in his country with his family six years ago and came to the UK hoping it would be a place where he would be safe and could work hard. But after having to leave his school in Huddersfield, he has been unable to sit his GCSEs.
Instead, Jamal rose to unwanted fame when a video of him being bullied in the playground of Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield in October last year went viral, attracting widespread condemnation.
The disturbing mobile phone footage showed Jamal being grabbed by the neck and pushed to the ground by another boy who then poured water over his face.
Jamal says it was the latest incident in a string of bullying endured by him and his younger sister at the school, as he tried to ignore the bullies and get on with his work.
However, after the footage of the attack was posted online – by one of the bully’s friends, Jamal believes – he achieved a notoriety he didn’t want. He and his family moved from Huddersfield and set up a new home in the Midlands.
Jamal told HuffPost UK he and his family feel happy and settled in their new location, where they have now been living for six months. But for him personally, the move has signalled a roadblock in his future ambitions as he has been unable to find anywhere to sit his exams.
“It has been very difficult starting in a new place again and it is frustrating as I haven’t been able to do my GCSEs.” he said.
“I feel like I have gone backwards. I want to become a pharmacist and have done work experience and have lots of good references.
“But unless I can do my GCSEs, my future will be gone.”
Jamal turned 16 after moving to his new city and struggled to find a school willing to accept him to do GCSEs.
He speaks English articulately and shows a maturity belying the young boy shown in the bullying video. When discussing those who made life difficult for him, he is full of disappointment rather than recriminations.
After failing to find somewhere to study his GCSEs, Jamal is currently at college studying a course in ‘English for speakers of other languages’ but says this feels like a backwards step, as he had made great strides in his education in Huddersfield.
Jamal told HuffPost UK: “When I first came to this country, I was 14 and I could not speak any English. I could not even say ‘hi’.
“But I built myself up and I worked hard. When I was living in Huddersfield, I was trying to make myself better. I had studied a lot for my GCSEs when the trouble happened. I would stay with the teachers after school and work hard.
“I was doing well in my schoolwork at Huddersfield and working hard and getting support from the teachers.
“But when we moved to the new house and now I am 16, they wouldn’t accept me at a school.
“I am at college and while it is good and there is support, it is not the right support for me as I want to do my GCSEs.”
Jamal and his family fled from persecution in Homs in Syria, where a relative was tortured and killed. The family lived in a refugee camp in Lebanon for a number years before moving to Huddersfield in West Yorkshire through a UN programme.
Jamal says he and sister were targeted by bullies almost immediately and believes they were singled out for being different. He says some other students even told him he wasn’t allowed to play with them as he was a Muslim.
Jamal says he believes that as well as making his life a misery in Huddersfield, the bullying has now impacted on his future.
He says: “I feel the bully caused this. When I was bullied, I told people and reported it, but it carried on happening.
“I did not want the video of the bullying to go online. A friend of the bully put it on. It was really hard when this happened as suddenly, everyone was talking about me.
“I just wanted to get on with my life quietly and do my GCSEs and then move away. I wanted help to stop the bullies and did not expect the bullying to go online.”
“I thought I would be safe in Huddersfield. I thought the UK was a safe country where no one would do anything to hurt me as there was no war”
Jamal recalls life in Syria as harrowing and says he lost friends and relatives. Others were tortured. School was also inconsistent and he would often go for one day, but then not for the next 10, due to the war.
“I felt sad to leave Syria as it is my country, but I felt happy [to go] as I did not feel safe and wanted a fresh start.
“I thought I would be safe in Huddersfield. I thought the UK was a safe country where no one would do anything to hurt me as there was no war.
“I also thought I would have a good future if I studied hard.”
After the video footage of the bullying was posted online, life became even more challenging for Jamal. Tommy Robinson, the English Defence League founder whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, waded into the issue and made accusations via videos on Facebook saying Jamal had attacked a girl at the school.
After the girl’s mum denied Jamal had hurt her daughter, Robinson later went on Facebook telling his followers he had been duped by a fake account and deleted the video, saying: “I have been completely had, how embarrassing.”
But the damage had already been done for Jamal and he and his family were forced to uproot and move to their new home after receiving threats.
Jamal is now seeking libel action against Robinson for peddling “false and defamatory lies.” with the help of Tasnime Akunjee, a London-based solicitor representing Jamal and his family.
“I started getting threatened because of the things Tommy Robinson said,” Jamal told HuffPost. “I was scared people would believe him and do something to me or my family. I didn’t want people to think I was a bad person.”
Jamal believes his life would be very different if it wasn’t for the bully and the domino effect which resulted in him and his family seeking a new home.
“If I had not experienced the bullying,” he said, “I would have done my GCSEs now and been waiting for my results and then hopefully have gone on to do my A-levels and gone to university.
“But then I had to leave my home in Huddersfield. The bully spoilt it all.”
Jamal’s sister who experienced bullying at the same school is happily settled into a new school and has made friends.
Their parents are content as their children are safe and studying and no longer getting bullied.
Jamal says that although it is proving hard to build himself back up, he is still determined to fulfil his dreams – even if it means delaying them for a few years.
He said: “I want to make medicine and help people. It might take a few years to build myself back up, but I am trying to do my GCSEs sooner.
“I still want to follow my dreams of going into pharmacy – I won’t give up.”