Most Syrians are familiar with the outlines of the catastrophe that has afflicted education in Syria over the past decade and a half, but they do not know its full depth. The crisis began to unfold with the start of the revolution against the Assad regime, which sought freedom, justice, and a better future. The regime responded by pushing Syrians into an armed conflict aimed at reasserting control over them and subjugating them by force. As policies collided and their consequences unfolded, infrastructure was destroyed, and the damage inflicted on education was among the most severe, with devastating consequences both in the present and for the future.
During that period, the destruction of the education system expanded across three levels. The first affected its human resources, including teachers, professors, educational and administrative staff, and experts. Some were killed, arrested, or forcibly disappeared, while others suffered injuries and disabilities. A small number were forced, under a range of complex circumstances, to go to the fronts of the armed conflict. The majority were displaced or emigrated, while those who remained became trapped in the realities of war, authoritarianism, and poverty.
The second level involved the destruction of the physical infrastructure of education. Universities, institutes, and schools were damaged, with most being completely or partially destroyed, including their equipment, libraries, and other facilities. What remained of the contents and structures of educational institutions was looted and stripped of its usable assets across Syria.
The third level of destruction involved the erosion of a large part of the ideas, values, philosophy, and objectives underlying education. These had been developed through experiences, trials, and debates over the course of a century of educational institutions in the state, which were established during the first quarter of the 19th century. This legacy established the universality and free provision of education, the central role of the state in education, and the connection between education and economic and social development plans. These are among the defining features of education in many developed countries around the world. This educational legacy was subjected to violations, perhaps the most serious of which was the spread of racial, religious, and sectarian tendencies into many educational experiences in areas controlled by de facto authorities. These tendencies also extended into educational experiences involving Syrian refugees and displaced people in some countries of migration and asylum, as happened in Turkey.
Developments over the past decade and a half shattered the structure of Syrian education. This is one of the reasons the new authorities have turned toward rebuilding education within a new context, with new values and considerations, based on the ideological and political distinctions separating the vision of the new authorities from the background and educational content of the previous authorities.
The transformation of the ideological and political environment of education according to the perspective of the new authorities represents one of the first challenges facing education, given its contradictions, and at times its points of continuity, with what came before. The second challenge is rebuilding and rehabilitating educational institutions, including universities, institutes, and schools. This is a difficult and complex process. Although it forms part of the broader reconstruction effort, it should take precedence, because any delay would deprive millions of Syrians enrolled in different stages of education of educational opportunities. This requires a special form of partnership involving local communities, civil society, Syrian state institutions, and relevant regional and international institutions. The process should not be halted or delayed even if some parties are late to participate or hesitate to take part in rebuilding and rehabilitating educational institutions, under the supervision and direction of the Syrian state.
Redesigning educational curricula and content, and renewing teaching methods and practices, also represents a significant challenge. This requires reviewing and reforming curricula by introducing new content that emphasizes the values of tolerance, citizenship, justice, and equality, while combating others, including the glorification of the individual ruler, justification of one-party rule, glorification of militarization, and promotion of hate speech. All of these contributed to the catastrophes that befell Syrians after the two Assad regimes entrenched them in Syrian life and planted their seeds at the foundation of the educational process through curricula and practices. The time has come not merely to amend and reform them, but to change them. The first steps should include moving teaching methods away from traditional approaches toward digital transformation, creating online platforms and interactive channels that offer recorded lessons and provide learners with access to education in all regions.
The challenges outlined above, despite their importance and the need to address them seriously, must proceed in parallel with confronting the human challenges facing education, whether concerning the educational workforce of professors, teachers, experts, and administrators, or students, who are the ultimate focus of the educational process. All of them need assistance to participate in the educational process and make it successful through the simplest possible means and at costs appropriate to the circumstances facing Syrians.
More than twenty months have passed since the fall of the previous regime and the establishment of the new authorities, during which many steps have been taken. Yet more than steps and policies are needed. They must be designed and implemented to make education in Syria both acceptable and effective, and both remain distant goals for now, because there are influential figures and decision-makers raising issues whose time has passed, while others debate points that are not fundamental and have little to do with education.
