Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Damascus, SANA – A workshop on the final preparations for the 2016-2017 school year was organized by Ministry of Education in cooperation with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) at Umayyad Hotel in Damascus.
Education Minister Hazwan al-Waz stressed the need for boosting cooperation between the Ministry and the UNICEF to address the difficulties and obstacles facing the educational process, especially in current circumstances, and guarantee the right of Syria’s children to learn and improve their capabilities.
He noted to the Ministry’s procedures to welcome the new school year such as rehabilitating a number of schools, finishing book printing to be distributed to schools throughout the provinces, in addition to giving instructions to schools to welcome all students and facilitate the admission and registration processes.
The Minister expressed hope that the workshop will come out with positive proposals and recommendations that would contribute to improving the educational performance and encourage students to come back to their schools, stressing that education should be available for all without exceptions and for achieving this goal alternative learning programs for out-of-school students have been introduced.
The UNICEF Representative in Syria Hanaa Singer stated that the UNICEF’s joint programs with the Syrian Education Ministry, particularly the Self-learning program, succeeded to reach around 90 thousand children, including those who live in unreachable areas, indicating that about 5000 students started learning after enrollment in the accelerated learning program (Curriculum B)launched by the organization last year.
She noted that cooperation between the organization and the Syrian Education Ministry resulted in improving the school environment for about 275 thousand students through rehabilitating 327 schools and offering 245 pre-built classrooms, stressing the UNICEF’s hope to reach more than 300 thousand students through the rehabilitation of 400 additional schools and reduce the burdens of student intensity.
The participants discussed the preparations of the education directorates in the provinces before the beginning of the new schools year and identify schools’ requirements and needs.
The workshop reviewed media and social activities to be held by local associations in cooperation with the UNICEF to encourage students to return to school such as designing and distributing printed materials and media advertisements.
The new school year 2016 -2017 is to start on September 18th, as set by the Syrian Ministry of Education.
R.Raslan/Mazen
