Education in Syria has been under attack since the beginning of the civil war, which spanned over a decade.
Beginning as a peaceful uprising of pro-democracy groups against the rule of the Assad lineage, the government cracked down on rebel groups and the conflict intensified into what is known as the Syrian Civil War. As the crisis entered its 13th year, the UN Syria Commission of Inquiries stated, “The warring parties’ attempts to resolve the conflict militarily have enabled the violation or abuse of nearly every core human right.” With the Dec. 8 fall of the Assad regime, Syria must focus on reconstruction and rehabilitating education, as its schools had been targeting northwest Syria throughout the conflict.
A study conducted in 2000 by Kenneth Bush and Diana Saltarelli of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre posits that the distribution of education has a positive face – including nurturing linguistic and ethnic tolerance – while the withholding of education has been historically used as a weapon of war. When explaining the denial of education as a weapon, the study states, “This kind of intellectual starvation tactic is a violation of basic human rights.” Depriving children of basic human rights, such as the denial of education during times of war, disrupts child development and puts a deliberate deadlock on the advancement of civilians’ education.
Last year, the Global Coalition to Protect Education from Attack identified 83 attacks on schools in Syria, and their report in 2023 was the first to identify child recruitment for military conscription to and from schools. In agreement with targeting education being used as a weapon of war, Bush and Saltarelli suggest, “The loss of childhood in militarized violence means that the gradual process of socialization, the development of confidence, and sense of responsibilities are short-circuited.” With the vitality of schools, both during times of conflict and not, how could states, such as Syria, safeguard education?
Syria is not the only state that underwent an educational crisis amidst armed conflict – Palestine and Ukraine, both zones of armed conflict, have seen record-high incidences of attacks on education in 2022-2023, according to the Global Coalition to Protect Education’s report. These record-high levels have been attributed to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the escalation of the Israel-Hamas war. These levels can be attributed to schools being repurposed as shelters for civilians or places for military units to take over in both conflicts. Moreover, without previous domestic policy and international law being enforced in these states before the conflict, the neglect of accountability and targeting of schools have aimed to deracinate civil society.
Syria has yet to endorse the Safe Schools Declaration, an intergovernmental agreement that allows states to commit to restoring and protecting education during armed conflict. Although the declaration is a thorough outline that aims to protect the states that endorse this measure, if member states do not meet regularly with states that don’t endorse this, then there would be a gap in the dispersal of education. As a result, the proposed declaration may not be fully effective in its means to safeguard education. Nonetheless, UNICEF has supported the rehabilitation of 26 schools across Syria and has been working on 17 more in the past year. Even though Syria has not endorsed the declaration – and will likely not because of ISIS’s influence on education – humanitarian organizations must focus and create task forces to extend their assistance to countries that have not endorsed the declaration, as those countries’ civilians’ education is most at risk.
The majority of Syria is under the control of the Islamic State (ISIS), which has exhibited its vision of women’s education through its Women of the Islamic State manifesto. The manifesto states, “It is possible to draw up a plan for the ideal education of our girls, one which begins when they are seven years old and ends when they are fifteen, or a little earlier,” discouraging women from obtaining higher education. One solution to this issue may be to minimize ISIS’ influence on Syria’s education by uprooting the organization, but former Syrian regimes have notably supported the organization. But, a pathway to move forward to safeguard education could be to keep the current education system and its curriculum accountable, abiding by international standards. The United Nations’ International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was enacted in 1997. Article 13 of the covenant states, “Higher education shall be made equally accessible to all, based on capacity, by every appropriate means, and in particular by the progressive introduction of free education.” The Women of the Islamic State manifesto directly contradicts the covenant and by holding the state accountable by international standards, Syrian civilians can see a positive rehabilitation of education.
With the recognition of the international attack on education, a global commitment that holds states accountable is imperative to prevent attacks on schools. Furthermore, this global commitment must extend to post-conflict rehabilitation and restructuring educational systems to ensure future safety and rebuild the curriculum to accommodate the gap in education during armed conflict.
Although the Assad regime supported ISIS, the current de-facto leader of Syria, the Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham rebel group – controlling most of Western Syria – has opposed ISIS. The fall of the Assad regime also means the rewriting of a new constitution, which can take up to three years according to the leader of HTS, Ahmed al-Sharaa, and an election can take as long as four years. Nonetheless, the rewriting of the constitution would be a source of educational rehabilitation. Should a new constitution be drafted under Ahmed al-Sharaa, it would likely stray away from ISIS views of education, as HTS has targeted ISIS. But, it can be argued that HTS’ attacks on ISIS can be seen less as a crackdown, and more as a consolidation of power – an example being American journalist Bilal Abdul Kareem’s claims about torture and human rights violations in HTS detention – pointing toward the conclusion that HTS’ motives may be centered more around centralizing power than citizen safety.
From the Assad regime to HTS’ new de-facto leadership, Syria may not know who will take over for another four years, leaving gaps of uncertainty and a lack of focus on civilian education under either regime. With humanitarian assistance, increased international legal accountability and abiding by the UN’s claim to equality and education, Syrian civilians may see a path toward safely exercising their right to education.