In the past two years, dozens of families have returned to the city of Darayya (Rural Damascus, southwestern Syria) after years of refuge in Turkey, Egypt, and other countries, only to face a challenge no less complicated than the decision to return itself: their children’s education.
Testimonies from parents interviewed by Enab Baladi indicate that the transition into schools has not been smooth. Students encountered a clear gap between the curricula they studied abroad and the Syrian curriculum, in addition to differences in teaching methods, crowded classrooms, staff shortages, and administrative complications related to certificate equivalency and record transfers.
For most returning families, the high cost of private schools has also become a major obstacle.
Curriculum shock, especially in the baccalaureate
Abu Omar Shraidi, who returned to Darayya in July 2025 after years in Turkey, describes a significant gap between what his children studied there and the Syrian curriculum.
His daughter had been in the 11th grade and his son in the eighth grade at private Arabic schools outside Syria.
After returning, his daughter, now in the Syrian baccalaureate year, faced intense pressure from the first days of school. Her father says the Syrian curriculum is “very dense and difficult, especially for the baccalaureate,” pointing to the heavy writing load, complex exercises, and the difficulty of Arabic compared with what she had been used to in Turkey.
He adds that the shock was not limited to a specific subject but rather the overall workload. According to him, a student needs a strong foundation before entering the Syrian curriculum, otherwise the transition becomes an immediate psychological burden.
Haytham Shraidi, who returned a year earlier, recounts a similar experience with his son, who completed the first three grades in Istanbul.
The child required intensive Arabic support during the summer to be able to continue fourth grade without repeating a year.
“There is a big difference in the way lessons are explained and exams are conducted,” he said, noting that the transition was not easy even in primary school.
Language and teaching style, an educational gap and harsh treatment
Nada, who returned from Istanbul seven months ago, believes the deeper problem was not only the difficulty of the subjects but also the way students are treated in the classroom.
Her eldest daughter continued directly to the baccalaureate without repeating a year, while her younger daughter was moved from seventh grade to sixth grade because of her birth date.
Nada says her daughters struggled to adapt to the teaching style and the approach of some teachers.
“We did not expect the approach to be this harsh,” she said, referring to what she described as “offensive language” used by some teachers toward students.
She spoke with one teacher after hearing what she described as “unacceptable expressions,” but was told that students themselves behave poorly.
Nada believes returning students are not responsible for the circumstances that forced them to leave Syria and that schools should take into account the particular experience of children who spent years in different educational systems.
“If a teacher treats students with respect, the child will learn,” she said.
Haytham Shraidi also links this style to his son’s declining willingness to attend school. At one point, the child refused to go to school because of what his father described as “harsh and inappropriate language.” Although he later integrated better with classmates, the initial experience remained difficult.
Nostalgia and shaken confidence
Nostalgia for previous schools is a recurring theme in parents’ testimonies.
Nada says her daughters “miss their schools and friends very much” in Turkey and feel they performed better there academically and psychologically.
She adds that integration in Darayya takes time, especially since the number of returning students is still limited, making them feel different within their classes.
Abu Omar notes that his daughter preparing for the baccalaureate showed clear signs of stress in the first weeks. His children also expressed a desire to return to Turkey, not only because of the difficulty of the curriculum but also due to differences in the school environment and services.
However, Ahmad Abu al-Laban offers a different experience.
He returned from Egypt about a year ago and enrolled his son again in first grade based on the school principal’s advice, even though the child had already completed second grade.
He believes the decision helped his son integrate with new classmates.
“His behavior improved here, and his teacher follows up with him very well,” he said, describing his son’s experience as positive.
Overcrowded classrooms and staff shortages
Alongside the educational gap, parents point to overcrowding in some classes.
Abu Omar says one school has nine sections for ninth grade alone, while secondary schools suffer from staff shortages.
He recalled that one teacher was absent for about 12 days without a replacement, causing lessons to accumulate. Students were later asked to arrive an hour before school and stay two hours afterward to make up for the missed lessons.
He also mentioned service problems, including poor restroom conditions and inconsistent heating.
“My daughter in ninth grade had heating on some days, but the one in the baccalaureate class still does not have a heater installed in her classroom,” he said.
Haytham compared school environments in Turkey and Darayya in terms of cleanliness, organization, and warmth, noting that the school environment directly affects students’ psychological well-being.
Private schools, a costly option
Due to difficulties integrating into some public schools, several families considered enrolling their children in private schools in Darayya. However, the cost remains a major barrier.
The city has three private schools: al-Ibaa, al-Bashair, and New Vision.
According to parents, tuition at al-Bashair School is about seven million Syrian pounds annually for grades one through six and rises to nine million pounds for middle school. At al-Ibaa School, tuition ranges between eight million pounds for primary grades and twelve million pounds for middle school.
Haytham Shraidi says private school fees generally range between ten and twelve million Syrian pounds annually, about 1,000 US dollars, which he considers “beyond the means” of families who recently returned and have not yet stabilized economically.
Nada said she wished she could transfer her daughters to a private school to bridge the educational gap but could not afford the long-term costs. Instead, she enrolled her daughter in a private tutoring institute after school to help her prepare for the baccalaureate, which she described as a “decisive stage.”
Ahmad Abu al-Laban, whose son did not need a private school, said one of his friends pays about ten million Syrian pounds annually to educate his child in a private school. For most returning families, however, this option remains theoretically available but practically unaffordable.
Certificate equivalency and record transfer, confusion and delays
The difficulties of returning were not limited to classrooms but also extended to administrative procedures related to certificate equivalency and record transfers.
Abu Omar Shraidi said he had to move between the school, the Directorate of Education, and the Ministry of Education to complete the equivalency process for his daughter’s ninth-grade certificate issued by an international school outside Syria, despite having certified documents.
Later, he was asked to obtain additional authentication for her tenth-grade certificate from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which delayed her registration for exams.
His daughter now faces difficulty registering for the baccalaureate exam while waiting for the certification of her ninth- and tenth-grade certificates, which could risk losing her eligibility to sit for the exam as the deadline approaches.
“If they had informed us of all the requirements at the beginning of the year, we would not have lost all this time,” he said, noting that the lack of early clarification increased the pressure on the family.
A similar experience was described by Rodayna Kholanai while registering her nephews and nieces who returned from Turkey.
For primary grades and ninth grade, schools accepted a placement test and a copy of the Turkish certificate of graduation, placing students according to their birth year.
However, when registering one student in tenth grade, the family was asked to provide a Turkish certificate authenticated by the Turkish embassy in Damascus.
Rodayna said obtaining the document required repeated visits and long waiting hours in front of the embassy from early morning.
Afterward, the family had to obtain a sworn translation and additional certifications from the Justice Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, followed by approval from the secondary school and certification at the Directorate of Education. The student was granted a temporary attendance permit.
After all these procedures, the student was placed in eleventh grade and attended school for two months before being asked to return to tenth grade on the grounds that students must follow the academic sequence according to the last grade they studied in Turkey, regardless of age.
Rodayna said conflicting interpretations of regulations wasted time and effort and created additional confusion for students and their families during a period that should have been a stable transition.
Sudden transition affects academic level and psychological well-being
Sama, a primary school teacher at al-Muhdatha School in Darayya, says returning students are “deeply influenced by the environments they lived in.”
She noted that differences in dialect created an initial barrier for some students, who often asked teachers to repeat explanations because they struggled to understand the local colloquial language.
The difficulty was not only linguistic but also psychological. Some students expressed a desire to return to the places where they had lived and to their former friends, creating a sense of isolation during the first weeks.
She added that some students coming from Egypt returned after interruptions in their education or without adequate foundations due to previous difficulties enrolling in public schools, which affected their academic level upon returning.
She recalled the case of a student who initially sat quietly in the corner of the classroom and made little academic progress. Over time, however, his performance improved as he began to feel safe and supported, eventually becoming one of the top students.
According to her, the first month is often the most difficult.
She also believes that fifth-grade students faced greater challenges integrating than younger children. Placing some returning students one or two grades lower immediately upon arrival, based on criteria that did not consider their previous curricula, caused frustration among some students, particularly those who had previously excelled.
She suggests organizing psychological preparation sessions and Arabic language support classes before directly integrating students into classrooms. She also recommends evaluating students according to the curricula they previously studied to reduce the transition gap.
An incomplete return
Between curriculum differences, changing teaching styles, overcrowded classrooms, and complicated equivalency procedures, the educational return in Darayya still appears to be an unstable transitional phase.
For many families, returning was not simply about reclaiming a home address but about facing a new test inside classrooms.
Some students now sit in the back rows trying to catch up with a curriculum they had never studied before. Others have been moved between grades months after the school year began due to different interpretations of regulations, while parents search for tutoring to prevent their children from losing an academic year.
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