School Dropout Children: The Problem and Solutions

Introduction:
The situation within Syria and its neighboring countries shares a common issue concerning the dropout of children from school benches. Numerous statistics estimate their numbers to be in the millions, with the northern region of Syria alone accounting for nearly a quarter of a million Syrian children who have dropped out of school! These figures are not just mere numbers to be scrolled past on news sites; they are indicative of the future of Syria’s next generation. They represent children whose families’ financial and living conditions, among other factors, have been the direct or indirect cause of this bitter and painful reality—herein lies the gravitas of the situation.
At the Family Affairs Office of the Syrian Future Movement, we strive to open this file to draw attention to its seriousness, study its causes, and propose suggestions to solve this complex problem.
Generally speaking, this study has relied on real-world data through (1) communication and (2) work with the children of the land themselves. This was conducted through limited and concise surveys, diverse meetings, interaction with several activists in the educational field, and direct efforts within our educational centers there. Therefore, we see it as a joint effort with everyone involved, and we hope that anyone who can contribute to this aspect, whether by enriching the study or by correcting it, will come forward with their input. Together, we aim to precisely diagnose the issue and prescribe the correct treatment, benefiting everyone involved. We are but brothers with a singular goal: to lift the injustice and darkness from our people and build a healthy generation that will be the pillar of society’s present and future development.

Educational Exodus!
Undoubtedly, the rate of school dropout in Syria after the war has significantly increased compared to before. The reason is the Syrian regime’s destruction of the societal infrastructure prior to destroying schools and killing teachers. Therefore, the war was the primary, deepest, and most dangerous cause of children’s dropout from their schools and education. Other reasons can be summarized as follows:

1. The weakness of the educational staff, especially in public or free government schools, for many reasons, the most important of which are:

• Employment through nepotism rather than competency, a disease that does not only engulf the educational aspect but all societal sectors in the four regions of Syria (which we addressed in a previous study by the research and studies department of our scientific office).
• Low teachers’ salaries, which led most of them to forsake employment in the educational sector.

1. The absence of sound educational planning, the failure to benefit from modern and advanced education types, and the focus on producing students who are more like “time recorders.” The academic year ends, and the trace of education fades, in addition to continuing to follow an inflexible educational curriculum that does not suit children’s ages or abilities.
2. Extreme poverty, which prevented parents from sending their children to schools, pushing them to work in agriculture, and perhaps begging, thereby increasing the child labor force with new workers each year in search of family economic sufficiency.
3. Family security, with the absence of the concept of security in a country plagued by war and engulfed in poverty, increasing childbearing and sending them to work at a young age became a means of economic security on the one hand and a guarantee of support in the parents’ old age on the other. Thus, the idea of having many children to carry the economic burdens of their relatives proliferates, rather than the opposite! Although this idea has a familial ethical aspect, it leads to children dropping out of their school seats and joining the labor market that brings quick money.
4. The increase in the number of orphans who lost their guardians due to the harsh war conditions over a decade or more, in addition to the devastating earthquake pandemic that struck northern Syria and southern Turkey, leaving behind additional numbers of orphans.
5. The outdated customs that still exist in some of our communities among some families, which dictate the neglect of education, the indifference to its impact and value, and therefore, children inherit the nature of their parents’ work and continue in their lives without education, except for learning some basics, as they say. As for girls, they receive twice the neglect: women in their societies are destined for their husband’s house, which also caused cases of early marriage for them instead of studying! (We discussed this issue in a special study issued by the research and studies department of our scientific office).

They ask you for a solution, say:
“The most immediate, efficient, and viable solution lies in ending the war, implementing United Nations Resolution 2254, and establishing a new governance system with a transitional government endowed with full authority for a phase culminating in laws derived from the essence and ethics of religions, and what civilized nations have achieved in all fields, including the focus on children and their educational attainment. Until then, we are compelled to look at reality pragmatically and try to find some solutions:

1. Support free schools with all available resources from the de facto authorities, funders, businessmen, philanthropists, and concerned organizations. This support includes all aspects of free education, such as:

• Increasing teachers’ salaries, developing exceptional plans to welcome competent teachers, even if we cannot overcome nepotism and favoritism. However, the crucial aspect is that the teacher is beneficial to our children.
• Supporting intellectual institutions interested in educational curricula and collaborating with establishments aimed at leveraging the curricula of advanced countries to benefit from their expertise.

1. Develop a robust teaching cadre, especially for the foundational stages from elementary to high school levels.
2. Direct businessmen to invest in quality and prudent education, and provide them with all political, legal, and societal facilities.
3. Raise awareness of the importance of education for both boys and girls by:

• Encouraging enlightened religious scholars and preachers to advocate for education and its religious virtues.
• Governmental and international institutions concerned with childhood.
• The media and social media platforms in all their forms and channels.

1. Enact laws preventing families from pulling children out of school education, taking the war factor into account, and choosing gradual methods in persuasion and correction.
2. Encourage children to study through gifts, incentives, and competitions, and set significant prizes for high achievers to add material value to education alongside its moral value.
3. Activate the concept of ‘school endowments’, making them a channel for almsgiving, until we reach a stage of allocating substantial salaries for every teacher and student, distinguishing high achievers with higher grants and initiatives supported by educational scholarships for outstanding students. This aims to motivate families, children, teachers, and educational staff towards excellence and creativity, allowing teachers to focus on teaching and students on learning, and making this idea a priority in civil and community advocacy.” In conclusion:
   At the Syrian Future Movement, we view our children as both the present of Syria and the bridge to its future. Hence, since the inception of our work within the Syrian fabric, we have paid special attention to children who have dropped out of school, especially orphans. We have established two educational centers (as a first step) in the cities of Azaz and Afrin in Northern Syria, named “Tawad Educational Schools.” These are intended as the seeds of a grand national project that we at the Syrian Future Movement dream of.
   This project’s launch pad is to identify the number of Syrian children who have dropped out of school and provide them with the necessary means of support and facilitation for their academic attainment, as well as parallel nurturing and character development for a balanced and conscious personality. Additionally, we continue to offer lectures for the children’s parents and guardians through educational specialists to highlight the importance of knowledge and learning and the necessity of arming their children with it to protect them from becoming fertile ground for the various ills of society.
   Therefore, we clarify the following:

• The Syrian Future Movement extends its hand to everyone who wishes to work in this precious and strategic gap, and we are ready to share our experience with anyone who wants to develop it nationally.
• The Syrian Future Movement is ready to coordinate and cooperate with any party concerned with helping our children who have dropped out of school inside Syria, in neighboring countries, and in refugee situations, as long as our projects share similar plans and clear goals and directions.
• The Syrian Future Movement encourages funders and donors to support all education projects, especially those aimed at educating our out-of-school children, to include them in the realm of knowledge and learning, as this has a clear and evident societal benefit that is indisputable.
  
  

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بقلم رئيس تيار المستقبل السوري
الدكتور زاهر بعدراني
مكتب الأسرة
تيار المستقبل السوري