Syria expects student numbers to reach 6 million this year
QAMISHLI, Syria (North Press) – Syria’s Ministry of Education and Teaching expects the number of students in schools to reach six million during the current academic year, Minister Mohammed Abdulrahman Turko said on Monday.
Speaking during a hearing session before the People’s Assembly, Turko said the ministry faces challenges in accommodating the growing number of students, while school dropout remains a major concern.
He estimated that around two million children are out of school, attributing the situation to economic and social factors as well as the absence of schools in some areas.
Turko said the ministry had reopened 134 schools in Aleppo and 50 in Idlib and is preparing to open 37 schools in Hama.
The ministry printed 41 million textbooks for the current school year, up from 28 million last year, he said. All first- through fourth-grade students will receive new textbooks.
Turko added that returning students face difficulties related to missing documents, language barriers and differences between the curricula they previously studied and the unified Syrian curriculum.
The ministry has adopted a two-year transitional period to help students who studied under previous curricula shift to the unified curriculum, he noted.
Regarding teachers, Turko said more than 14,000 teachers dismissed for participating in the revolution have been reinstated and will be allowed to choose workplaces close to their homes. A draft law to permanently regularize their status has reached its final stages and will be referred to the People’s Assembly.
He indicated that teachers who reached retirement age before the fall of the previous government are covered by the draft law, with their years of service to be calculated.
Turko said the ministry is also working to enforce compulsory basic education under Law No. 7 and has moved the Teachers Affairs Law to the drafting committee at the Presidency’s General Secretariat.