Schooling in Syria: The U.S. Should Step Up Support for Education Over Security
In this picture taken on Sunday, Nov. 2, 2014, Syrian Kurdish refugee children from the Kobani area raise hands during an English lesson a makeshift school at a refugee camp in Suruc, near the Turkey-Syria border. Tucked away in the back of one of the refugee camps in the Turkish border town of Suruc stands a tent slightly different from the rest. Inside, brightly colored drawings are pinned to the blue plastic tent, and wooden desks stand in two neat rows. For some of the children who fled with their families from the nearby besieged Syrian town of Kobani, this is the only school they've known. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
RCEd Commentary
The state of education in Syria is bleak, but schooling endures despite the war. The U.S. must step up support to these ongoing efforts and rethink its investments there. A U.S. fixation on ISIS creates more destruction (and more enemies) than positive change.
The odds are nevertheless set against Syrians: one in five schools have been destroyed or taken over for military purposes, 22 percent of Syrian teaching staff and 18 percent of school counselors have perished or escaped, and more than 3 million children are out of school. Despite these losses, education persists in Syria, and the various ways it has continued to function is relevant to U.S. practitioners, particularly considering the different power centers on the ground vying for supremacy.
Damascus, the regime’s most protected capitol, may be the best example of what “normal” looks like today in Syria. Life remains relatively ordinary in the capitol, says a friend of mine who lives in a southern neighborhood that has withstood occasional rebel attacks. “Kids play on the street,” she explained.
But I heard a different perspective from a previous colleague of mine, who travels regularly around the capitol and its suburbs as a journalist. In contrast, he described swaths of kids hanging out idly on the streets during normal school hours. The increase in student dropout rate makes these kids vulnerable to radicalization. This discrepancy in testimony reflects the asymmetrical effects of the conflict on different areas and populations in Damascus, meaning that any effort to address education problems in the country must adapt to the diverse contexts.
Some families living in insecurity have sent their children to attend school in safer areas explained my former colleague, but most deal with deficient education options, pull their kids out of school, or are forced to flee to other areas. These different currents put pressure on specific school districts. Classroom sizes have close to doubled, he said. In response, many of these schools have opted for “double shifts,” separating students between morning and evening hours. Although this was a necessary adjustment, it has also led to a reduction in education quality because it overburdens already overworked teachers.
In contrast to the relatively stable capitol, fighting and regime change in opposition-held areas has directly disrupted schooling. In Aleppo, for example, which has been devastated by years of active war, enrollment is down to 6 percent. Still, Syrians continue to improvise solutions. According to Syrian activist Nidal Bitari, schooling is being implemented in rebel-held areas according to the opposition’s interim government plans to use the existing national curriculum with modifications in the history section. They have removed instances that present the Assads as heroes. In these “freed territories,” classes function out of schools, houses or mosques, and are run by local teachers, who previously worked in regime schools. Still on government payroll, some teachers must make the precarious journey to regime-held areas to obtain their salaries from the government.
Despite these well intentioned adjustments, military groups competing for supremacy are hijacking the education apparatus in Syria. The Assad regime and extreme religious groups, arguably the worst perpetrators, have exploited schools and youth for their political gains. Since the conflict began, Assad’s forces set up allied militias (“shabiha” or National Defense Force) to support its military efforts, pulling from schools where children from the age of 15 are incentivized by a small salary to join.
The regime has also sought to expand military enlistment by drafting students. Security officers erect improvised checkpoints to track down students and even to discriminate against those hailing from “enemy” areas -- known to be Sunni-majority or opposition-held. This deterrent has caused many students to leave school for fear of retribution or to hide from conscription lists based on school enrollment records.
Similarly, ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra have adapted the state curriculum to suit their needs, with a focus on “Sharia” religious law education. These groups are using schools to advance their military strategy. They have targeted children for recruitment through “free schooling” campaigns, providing military training as part of the broader education program.
The more these military groups and affected populations feel threatened, as the conflict escalates -- no thanks to U.S. arming of fighters and aerial bombardment -- the more motivation they have to prioritize security over education. This escalation not only further threatens Americans, but it is also a bad investment. While education support programs like those implemented by the United Nations and UNICEF are underfunded by close to 50 percent, the U.S. is directing plenty of funding toward combatting terrorism, with few results. Instead, more needs to be done inside of Syria to support the families, students and teachers who persist in their commitment to education and progress. Only through supporting encouraging educational programs on the ground can Syrians and the U.S. challenge those more worrisome movements.
