"Boys and girls chanted slogans against Moammar Gaddafi and teachers hanged an effigy of the fugitive leader as many Libyan children started their first school year without the "brother leader''dictating the curriculum.

Euphoria filled the halls on Saturday, but teachers admitted a lot needed to be done to overhaul an educational system where a main goal for nearly 42 years was to instill adoration of Gaddafi and what he touted as the greatest system of rule in the world - the "Jamahiriya,'' a utopian "rule by the masses'' that in reality boiled down to rule by Gadhafi.

The AP news agency reported that at the Al-Fayha Elementary School, boys dashed around the courtyard unfurling the red, black and green revolutionary flag that has replaced the old regime's green banner.

Students, many decked out in "Free Libya'' T-shirts in the same colors sang, "You are a free Libyan, raise your head up'' and other victory songs."

Al Jazeera