مراجعة دور التربية الشاملة في نظام التعليم في سوريا: رسم خريطة للممارسات الحالية والتوجهات المستقبلية

This report highlights the urgent need for a national comprehensive education strategy that considers the local context and integrates psychosocial support, life skills, and child protection. The report also reviews evidence from the experimental Abjad Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) program, which shows a significant improvement in students' social and emotional competencies and is currently being expanded to include over 700 children. The report concludes by outlining a roadmap for expanding comprehensive education in Syria, based on a coordinated needs assessment, targeted pilot implementation, and rigorous evaluation, while emphasizing the need to design locally-derived curricula and avoid importing models that do not fit the context.

This report explores the importance of comprehensive education and its application in the Syrian context, where the conflict has severely disrupted the education sector. The report defines comprehensive education as a concept that includes supportive curricula similar to the Personal, Social, Health and Economic (PSHE) education program implemented in the United Kingdom. This concept goes beyond traditional education, aiming to provide learners with essential life skills, enhance well-being, and build resilience. Although countries have adopted similar curricula under different names, comprehensive education in Syria remains limited in scope and fragmented. Government programs primarily focus on physical health, while international NGOs lead more comprehensive interventions.

The Syrian education system faces immense challenges, including widespread destruction of infrastructure, high dropout rates, poverty, child labor, and alarming levels of mental health distress among children. Within this fragile context, comprehensive education represents a vital approach to addressing these interconnected challenges. However, coordination among stakeholders remains weak, and evidence on the effectiveness of programs is still scarce.