Syrian Arab Republic

Sectoral impact:

• Education facilities in Syria are severely strained with some schools completely destroyed and out of service. This is impacting access to education and learning opportunities for boys and girls including children living with disabilities (CLwD) The PiN for the education sector has thus increased by 8 per cent from 7.2 million in 2024 to 7.8 million.
• The United States Executive Orders in January 2025 by the United States Government have reversed the gains made in education since the war started fourteen years ago. The Orders have halted crucial initiatives to support children suffering the impact of a protracted war. Many children are already slumping back into illiteracy through lack of access to basic education. This is resulting in the perpetuation of a “lost generation.”
• Over 5,200 schools are damaged and require urgent rehabilitation and retrofitting. Classrooms are overcrowded and there is a significant shortage of school furniture, teaching supplies and operational WASH facilities. The lack of electricity further hampers learning and results in high absenteeism, especially during extreme weather conditions.
• Vulnerable children face significant barriers to education, including those who continue to be internally displaced, girls, out of school children and CLwD. The presence of returnees results in congestion of education facilities which were already under pressure. Over 2.45 million children are out of school, with more than a million at risk of dropping out. These children are also more likely to be at higher risk of child protection issues such as child marriage and child labour.
• Despite education being free in Syria, the socio-economic situation forces families to deprioritize education to cut costs, such as those for transportation to school. This situation also leads to negative coping mechanisms that impact school enrolment, attendance and retention and increases their vulnerabilities and protection risks.
• 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 areas. This has led to the recruitment of temporary teachers, impacting the quality of education.

Immediate needs:

• With the compounding effects on education from the conflict, there is a need for comprehensive support and interventions to improve the overall education system in Syria.
• 5.3 million impacted boys and girls, including CLwD, are in urgent need of improved education. 2.45 million boys and girls who are out of school need to be enrolled back into school and children who have never been to school need to be supported to commence school. Ensuring the continuity of learning and provision of both formal and non-formal education for all boys and girls, including CLwD, is a top priority for the sector.
• Ensuring schools and education facilities are safe and capacitated to resume learning is an urgent priority, including overall rehabilitation that also caters for CLwD. It is also important to set up semi-permanent classrooms and gender-sensitive and disability-friendly WASH facilities. Clearance of mines and UXO is urgently required to ensure that children are safe both at school and on their way to and from school.
• Provision of cash and in-kind support to families and education personnel (including teachers) to ease the economic burden and its impact on access to quality and inclusive education.
• Coordinated provision of psychosocial support and referrals to enhance services to children and caregivers impacted by the overall context.
• Provision of capacity building and training to teachers and education personnel to enhance the quality of teaching.
• Raising overall awareness on access to education, and on issues such as the risk of mines and UXO is a necessity, especially as schools become more accessible in the coming months.
• Identification of education and learning needs and strengthening the overall education management information systems is imperative to ensure that accurate data is available to lead the response.

Priority activities:

The education sector will continue to prioritize access to education and learning to formal and non-formal education, (including early childhood education [ECE]), more specifically:

• Provision of support to enhance learning environments, including construction, rehabilitation and maintenance, provision of supplies, furniture and learning materials and provision of winter kits to learning spaces.
• Provide children and youth with non-formal education programs, including remedial classes, accelerated learning programs, catch-up classes, literacy and numeracy classes, education learning materials, etc.
• Provision of awareness-raising through back to learning campaigns, especially EORE.
• Provision of psychosocial support to children, youth and education personnel/teachers.
• Continuing to provide cash transfers and or vouchers for education to support education personnel and families to send their children to school.
• Provision of cash support for maintenance and running costs of education facilities.
• 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 provision of safe, inclusive and quality education and learning services to all vulnerable children and youth. This focuses around 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.
• Working closely with other sectors to raise awareness, strengthen referrals and mainstream education.
• Enhance monitoring and evidence generation, especially as emerging educational needs are identified.
• Strengthening the new Damascus-based education structure including the UN based hub structure.