Sectoral impact:
The education sector in Syria was severely impacted by the 14 years of conflict as well as the 2023 earthquakes and other climate related emergencies. Official estimates indicate that there are about 2.5 to 3 million children out of school. Additionally, more than 8,000 schools (40 per cent of the country’s education infrastructure) are damaged and require urgent rehabilitation or reconstruction. The highest numbers of non-functional schools are in Aleppo, Al-Hasakeh, Ar-Raqqa, and Dier-ez-Zor, Hama, Idleb and Homs.
Classrooms are overcrowded and there is a significant shortage of school furniture, teaching supplies and operational WASH facilities. In Ar-Raqqa specifically, the Classroom to Pupil Ratio (CpR) is (187:1), followed by Al-Hasakeh (85:1) and Dier-ez-Zor (56:1).
The lack of electricity further hampers learning and results in high absenteeism, especially during extreme weather conditions. Further, the worsening socio-economic conditions have affected the availability of qualified teachers. High transportation costs, irregular payment of low salaries and limited accreditation pathways reduce teacher motivation and accessibility, particularly in rural and hard to reach locations. As a result, the number of out-of-school children is increasing, and the total PiN for the education sector has increased by 8 per cent from 7.2 million in 2024 to 7.8 million.
Vulnerable children face significant barriers to education, including those who continue to be internally displaced, returnees, girls, out of school children and CLwD. Particularly, there is limited access to education services for IDPs living in camps. According to the CCCM Cluster (ISIMM, March 2025), only 243 out of 1,671 IDP sites and collective centers (15 per cent ) have on-site education facilities with the highest gap is in Dier-ez-Zor (97 per cent ), Ar-Raqqa (96 per cent ), Al-Hasakeh (91 per cent), and Aleppo (82 per cent ). As a result, most displaced children living in these governorates rely on accessing public and community supported schools.
Additionally, the influx of returnees in recent months places additional pressure on an already over-stretched education system. Population movement, increased demand for services and over-crowding in areas of return impacts the severity of needs at sub district level, with new emerging needs across the country.
Immediate needs
- With the compounding effects on education from the conflict and increased demand in areas of return, there is an urgent need for comprehensive support and interventions to improve the overall education system in Syria.
- 7.8 million impacted boys and girls, including CLwD, are in urgent need of improved education. Ensuring that school facilities are safe, inclusive and accessible is an urgent priority. Access is enhanced through rehabilitation, refurbishment, and the provision of temporary learning spaces is critical to ensure the continuity of learning and provision of both formal and non-formal education for all boys and girls, including CLwD.
- Non-formal education, and remedial/catch up classes are required to ensure children have access to flexible learning pathways that can facilitate their transition to continued learning opportunities. Bridging programmes are also required to support the re-integration of refugee children into the Syrian education system.
- Clearance of EO is urgently required to ensure that children are safe both at school and on their way to and from school, and children and teachers require access to psychosocial support and referrals for specialized protection services.
Priority activities
- Provision of support to enhance learning environments, including construction, rehabilitation and maintenance, provision of supplies, furniture and WASH facilities.
- Upgrade school facilities and provide an emergency winterization package (fuel, heaters and winter clothes) to ensure children continue their education during extreme weather conditions.
- Provide children and youth with non-formal education programs, including remedial classes, accelerated learning programs, catch-up classes, literacy and numeracy classes, and bridging programmes for returnee students.
- Provision of awareness-raising through back to learning campaigns, especially EORE.
- Provision of psychosocial support to children, youth and education personnel/teachers.
- Support back to school campaigns and provide learning materials and cash and voucher support for vulnerable households to send their children to school.
- Capacity building for teachers in formal and non-formal settings to enhance their skills on pedagogy, emergency preparedness and teaching in emergency settings.
- Enhance capacities of education actors, parents and communities on emergency preparedness, contingency planning and participation in decision making at the school level.
- Overall monitoring and evidence generation under education.
Response strategy
- Education sector partners, in coordination with local authorities, have an overarching goal to increase access to and provide safe, inclusive and quality education and learning services to all vulnerable children and youth. This focuses on three pillars: provision of ECE services; supporting formal education; and provision of non-formal education activities.
- Sector partners will also work on capacity development of education physical infrastructure, to ensure they are safe, gender-sensitive, and inclusive.
- Strengthen advocacy to prioritize education as a response, as well as working with local authorities to ensure that education is not disrupted. This is especially important to ensure that schools are no longer used as shelters.
- Improve harmonization and alignment of sector guidelines for formal and non-formal education under the integrated national education structure.
- Working closely with other sectors to raise awareness, strengthen referrals and mainstream education.
- Engage parents, communities, and local actors in the education sector response to enhance sustainability and emergency preparedness at the local level.
- Enhance monitoring and evidence generation, especially as emerging educational needs are identified.