Damascus-SANA
Today, through the Ministry of Education, Syria participated in virtual regional consultations with ministers of education and development partners from West Asia to help build momentum for the Preparatory Summit (Transformation in Education) organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in order to follow up on the proposed courses of action.
These consultations came with the aim of contributing to the definition of the views of countries and partners in the region on the basic elements in the transformation of education as it is linked to the five thematic areas of the summit, in addition to paying special attention to the challenges facing countries.
Minister of Education, Dr. Darem Tabbaa, and during his participation, pointed out that the ministry has started transformational education since 2015 in cooperation with (UNESCO and UNICEF), and the new Syrian curriculum has been built to help learners face the challenges caused by the terrorist war on Syria such as environmental degradation, disease, violence, extremism, discrimination and poverty In addition to facing the challenge of regressing educational standards and results in some basic areas such as reading, writing and arithmetic.
He added, “All of these actions took place in the light of a war going on against Syria, in which terrorism struck the infrastructure of the educational system. Most of the Syrian schools were destroyed. The terrorists tried to disrupt education and divide society in an abhorrent manner that the Syrian social environment was not accustomed to. They also tried to establish new values that depend on extremism, violence, and lack of affiliation and loyalty to the homeland.” He explained that to achieve transformation in education systems, learners of all ages must be supported to create more peaceful, just and sustainable societies.
The agenda included a review of common challenges and perspectives on transforming education in West Asia and the role of international partners in this field, discussions on how development partners can best reflect their engagement in the region to better support national governments in transforming education, and outlining the role that the United Nations and partners can play. Others are multilateral in supporting national governments in changing education in the region.
Bushra Barhoum and Rehab Ali
