Syria: Ensuring the rights of girls to education
The leader of the rebel army which overthrew the Assad regime in Syria, Ahmad al-Sharaa, has promised to ensure the rights of Syrian girls to education. Asharq Al-Aawsat, in an article on December 19, 2024, stated that “Sharaa denied that he wanted to turn Syria into a version of Afghanistan, saying the two countries were very different, with different traditions.”
He referenced that Afghanistan is a tribal society where people are often tied to their local and segregated communities, whereas Syria is not. Afghanistan has also been under Taliban rule (again) following the 2021 offensive which saw the withdrawal of US troops after a devastating twenty year war. With perhaps the harshest interpretation of Islamist governance, the Taliban have stripped women of virtually all their rights, including closing all secondary schools for young girls. Sharaa says this will not be replicated in Syria.
However, the West are concerned about supporting Sharaa and his group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). HTS have been designated a prescribed terrorist organisation in the UN, UK, US, and the EU, and is believed to have its origins in al-Qaeda. Sharaa himself fought with ISIS in Iraq in the pursuit of establishing an Islamic Caliphate. The west are therefore concerned about the cultivation of a new conservative Islamist government in the Middle East. Sharaa however maintains that HTS are not the Syrian version of the Taliban, arguing that HTS-held Idlib has had universities for more than eight years, and supposedly more than 60 percent of students are women. It is important to note that this information is from Sharaa himself and cannot be verified currently.
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After assuming power with the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria, Sharaa has made deliberate and concise attempts to distance himself and his group from their jihadist past and present themselves as the best option for the future of Syrian governance. They have argued that they will protect the rights of all Syrian sects and minorities, including the right of girls to education. The Baath Party, which took control of Syria following a military coup in 1963, and the ruling Assad family systematically used education as a tool for indoctrinating loyalty to the regime. But Qadri, the new education minister of the Syrian transitional government, has stated that this will not be the case in the new Syria. Despite fears of HTS implementing a conservative form of Islamist governance, Qadri has stated that all references to the Baath party will be removed; there will be no restrictions on the rights of girls to learn; and, religious studies will include the study of both Islam and Christianity. However, Qadri also mentions that there will be mandatory teaching of “nationalist studies”. What this is, or includes, has yet to be clarified by the new Syrian government.
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The promises of the new Syrian transitional government headed by Sharaa are making promises to the international community with the hope of alleviating the sanctions that had been placed on Syria in an attempt to pressure the Assad regime. Sharaa wants these removed, believing that, “the victim and the oppressor should not be treated in the same way,”. It remains to be seen how the west will respond but, so far, their behaviour has been one of hesitancy.
Asharq Al-Aawsat
