On the International Day of Education, celebrated annually by the United Nations on January 24, the Syrian Future Movement affirms its commitment to a comprehensive national vision that integrates Syria with the United Nations system and the international community, ensuring its advancement and integration in the field of education, free from any backwardness or isolation.
We believe that education, as a fundamental human right, as stipulated in Article 26 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is a strategic tool for national development and engagement with the modern era. It contributes to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 4, which calls for inclusive and equitable quality education for all.
The Syrian Future Movement views education as the cornerstone of Syrian unity and the key to its renaissance. It unites the Syrian people from all their diverse cultural and social backgrounds and strengthens national cohesion in the face of the challenges left by the previous conflict.
We in the Syrian Future Movement are committed to a vision that believes education is the path to restoring Syrian dignity, and that any delay in this area means continued dependency and backwardness. Therefore, we call for connecting Syrians with the international system through partnerships with UN organizations such as UNESCO and UNICEF, to learn from global best practices and avoid the isolation that deprives our generations of opportunities for progress.
The Syrian Future Movement declares that our positions are consistent with Syria’s international obligations under the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966), which require the state to guarantee free and compulsory education. Accordingly, we believe that in the current transitional phase, following the fall of the former regime in 2024, rebuilding the education system must be a national priority, supported by international efforts to rehabilitate the educational infrastructure, which, according to UN reports, has suffered damage exceeding 50%.
We also emphasize the need to maintain the independence of education from political interference, while leveraging international support to enhance transparency and accountability.
The Syrian Future Movement sees the transitional phase as a historic opportunity to build a new educational system from the ground up, based on modern theories such as Jean Piaget and Peter Synge’s constructivism, which focuses on building knowledge through active interaction, and Albert Bandura’s social learning theory, which emphasizes the role of collaboration and modeling in shaping behavior.
We also advocate for utilizing Howard Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences to design curricula that meet the diverse needs of students, while integrating modern technologies such as artificial intelligence and e-learning to bridge the digital divide.
The Syrian Future Movement believes that within the next five years, a qualitative leap to an advanced level can be achieved through:
- Rebuilding the infrastructure by allocating 20% of the state budget to rehabilitate 7,000 damaged schools, in partnership with UNESCO, to ensure international standards.
- Curriculum and training development through the adoption of modern curricula focused on life skills and innovation, with the training of 100,000 teachers over three years using UNICEF programs, inspired by Finland’s model of active learning.
- Universal and digital access, ensuring free education for all children, including displaced children, with the creation of online distance learning platforms to reach 90% of students by 2030, drawing on Estonia’s experience in digital transformation.
- International partnerships through enhanced cooperation with the United Nations to attract investments of up to $5 billion, focusing on international exchange programs for students and teachers to connect Syria to the global system.
The Syrian Future Movement calls on the Syrian government and the international community to implement this vision, while inviting all Syrians to contribute to building an educational future that guarantees progress and dignity.
Education is the path to a strong and integrated Syria in the world, and we, as a Syrian civil movement, are committed to supporting it.
