Multilingual education in NE, Syria

Adopting an educational system based on learning in the mother tongue is one of the most important steps taken in North and East Syria, the results of which are now visible in society.

Before the July 19th Revolution, the Baath regime not only prohibited education in the mother tongue, but it also prohibited speaking or communicating in a language other than Arabic.

But after 2012, an educational system was built that guarantees the privacy of each component and their right to learn in their mother tongue.

Article 6 of the Social Contract stipulates that “all languages present in the geography of North and East Syria are equal in all areas of social, educational and cultural life, and every people or cultural group has the right to organize their lives and conduct their affairs in their mother tongue.”

The eighth clause of Article 87 of the Social Contract stipulates that “the ethnic and religious components in each province shall organize and manage their political, social and cultural affairs in their own languages and cultures.”

The internal regulations of the education system

The Education Authority in North and East Syria refers in its bylaws to “adopting a multilingual and multicultural education system as a main standard.”

According to statistics from the Education Authority in North and East Syria, the number of students in the current academic year (2023-2024) is 857,474 male and female students.

Challenges and obstacles faced by the educational system

There are 3 main languages within the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria, which are Kurdish, Arabic, and Syriac. The Curriculum Preparation Foundation prepared the curricula for the three educational levels. Primary, preparatory and high school in these languages.

In addition to the Kurdish component, the Syriac component is also unable to learn in its mother tongue in Syria, as the curricula that the Syriacs prepared for themselves have not been approved yet.

According to the statistics of the Ulf Tau Foundation for Teaching the Syriac Language, there are 10 kindergartens and schools (primary, preparatory, and secondary) in Jazira canton, but education in the Syriac language so far, only up to the sixth grade, as school administrations do not allow the introduction of Syriac curricula into schools, as they are subject to the control of the churches. And the Damascus government.

The Ulf Tau Foundation has been seeking to make Syriac curricula available in the mother tongue to Syriac students for years.

Teachers are ready

Syriac language teachers undergo courses on educational curricula, and courses are held to teach the Syriac language to Syriac citizens in the region.

The Ulf Tau Foundation renews Syriac dictionaries that have not been audited for years.

T/ Satt.

ANHA