Calls in Deir ez-Zor to retain educational complex

Residents, community leaders and local dignitaries from the towns of Granij and Al-Bahra in the eastern Deir ez-Zor countryside called on the Directorate of Education to reverse its decision to abolish the Granij Educational Complex and keep it operational until a formal administrative decision is issued regarding its status. They said abolishing the complex under the current educational circumstances could increase the administrative and educational burden on the area.

According to residents, the measure is based on the Deir ez-Zor Directorate of Education’s view that the complex was not established under a decision issued by the Ministry of Education, as the area was under the Autonomous Administration about nine months ago. However, other educational complexes have been allowed to remain in operation. This prompted residents to call for preserving existing and operational complexes until their status is formally regulated through official administrative decisions.

Residents said the Granij Educational Complex was established through local efforts by residents and teachers and contributed to maintaining the educational process in the area, particularly during the years of war and the damage and destruction that affected a number of schools. Schools were repaired and reopened with limited resources and through the efforts of residents, teachers and organizations.

According to residents, the complex includes 50 schools, in addition to 17 schools operating on a second-shift system and educational annexes, bringing the total to 67 schools. They serve around 20,000 students, while the number of male and female teachers stands at around 538.

Residents said these figures require strengthening the teaching and administrative staff and increasing the number of educational coordinators and supervisors, rather than abolishing the complex. They called on the relevant authorities to take into account the size of schools, the number of students and educational needs when making restructuring decisions.

Objecting to the mechanism for reorganizing educational complexes, residents pointed to disparities in decisions taken across different areas and called for clarification of the administrative and educational criteria used to abolish some complexes and establish others.

Residents said the restructuring decisions included the abolition of the Granij Educational Complex and the Euphrates Educational Complex in the Shuhaytat area of rural Deir ez-Zor, which they estimate serves a population of around 250,000. This came alongside the establishment of an educational complex in the Atarib area of Aleppo Governorate, whose service area has a population of fewer than 20,000, according to the residents. They stressed that comparing these cases requires clarification of the basis and criteria on which the decisions were made.

They also noted that the restructuring in Deir ez-Zor affected complexes serving large numbers of schools and students, questioning the mechanism behind abolishing two complexes that, according to their estimates, encompass more than 100 schools and serve more than 44,000 students, and merging them into another complex comprising 44 schools.

Residents called on the Ministry of Education and the Deir ez-Zor Directorate of Education to clarify the reasons behind decisions to abolish educational complexes and reconsider them, stressing that decisions concerning the education sector should take into account the actual conditions of schools, student numbers, population density, the size of the teaching staff, and the actual needs of each area.

They also called for clear and unified administrative and educational criteria to be adopted when deciding to abolish or establish educational complexes, particularly with regard to the Shuhaytat complex and other complexes in the Jazira region, to ensure that the educational and administrative process is organized in line with the needs of each area.

ANHA