📚 AANES urges church-affiliated schools to adopt unified curriculum

RAQQA, syria/" class="auto-internal-link">syria (North Press) – An official from the Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) urged on Thursday the Christian community to stop using former regime textbooks and adopt the unified curriculum for their schools. Adnan Berri, co-chair of the AANES’ Education Board informed North Press that multiple schools affiliated with Christian denominations continue to teach the syrian/" class="auto-internal-link">syrian administration’s curriculum and charge tuition fees, in violation of the AANES’ free education policy. “These schools still use the Ba’ath regime’s curriculum and impose financial fees, which contradicts the principle of free education guaranteed by the AANES’s social contract,” Berri stated. He clarified that while the schools carry the names of Christian denominations, they operate as private institutions not formally affiliated with the churches. “They provide standard academic education rather than religious instruction,” he stated, adding that they accept students from various backgrounds, including Kurds, Arabs, and Christians. as per the AANES Education Board, there are 11 schools linked to Christian denominations across northeastern Syria — five in Hasakah, five in Qamishli, and one in Derik (al-Malikiyah).

Since the start of the current academic year, the AANES has intensified efforts to unify the curriculum across its territories and phase out materials issued by damascus. The move has drawn opposition from some groups, including the Assyrian Party, which called for maintaining “recognized” curricula. “Some church-affiliated schools have refused to implement the AANES curriculum, choosing instead to continue teaching the Ba’athist system,” Berri said. “This contradicts the social contract that guarantees every community the right to education in its own language. ” He emphasized that the Education Board has not closed any schools but continues to hold meetings with church representatives to reach a consensus. Additionally, “We are not seeking to shut down any school,” he said. “Our goal is to unify the educational system and ensure free, inclusive education for all communities. ” The AANES has developed its own multilingual curriculum emphasizing Kurdish, Arabic, and Syriac instruction to reflect the region’s cultural diversity.

However, the effort to replace Damascus-issued textbooks has faced resistance from some Christian and Assyrian institutions, which argue that AANES curricula are not officially recognized by the Syrian Ministry of Education. Education remains a politically sensitive issue in the region, reflecting broader tensions between the AANES’ self-administration model and the Syrian administration’s centralized authority. Reporting by Zana al-Ali Editing by Jwan Shekaki