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"For years I have been saying that the SDF are trying to eliminate the Christian presence in this part of Syria," claimed Syriac Catholic Archbishop Jacques Behnam Hindo of Al-Hasakah-Nisibi, located in northeastern Syria.
These harsh words do not come out of nowhere.
The Education Board of the so-called Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES) decided that teaching Damascus-issued curricula—or any other curricula—is no longer permitted even in private schools.
Following this decision, six Christian schools in U.S.-supported northeastern Syria were closed.
Technically speaking, the SDF did not close the schools outright, but it prohibited them from teaching either the state curriculum or their own Christian curricula in their mother tongues.
As part of this decision, the Mar Qaryaqos School (Syriac Orthodox), the Al-Salam School (Armenian Catholic), the Maysaloun School (Evangelical), the Faris Al-Khoury School (Assyrian), the Al-Ittihad School (Armenian Orthodox), and the Al-Amal School (Syriac Orthodox) are no longer able to continue their educational programs.
The curriculum imposed by the SDF can be considered more ideological indoctrination than education. The diplomas provided by the AANES are not accepted anywhere in the world.
Syrian parents who could afford it sent their children to private schools or bussed them to non-SDF-held parts of Syria to receive a proper education.
With this decision, the SDF is forcing a generation of Syrians to undergo an inferior curriculum and receive worthless degrees.
The Christian schools are part of this problem. They can no longer teach their students, even though the diplomas they provide are recognized both in Syria and internationally.
The closed Christian schools should be seen in two different categories.
The Evangelical school aimed to teach the Syrian curriculum so that its students could obtain a recognized diploma.
In a public letter to SDF ringleader Mazloum Abdi, Pastor Naim Youssef asked for lenience and promised to implement the AANES curriculum once it is recognized in Syria and internationally.
The Orthodox Christian schools, however, have broader demands.
They want to teach students in their Armenian, Assyrian and Syriac mother tongues in sync with Syria’s state curriculum.
The SDF is now blocking the Christian minority from teaching their children their mother tongues in private schools.
From a Turkish perspective, this becomes an interesting paradox.
In Türkiye, the PKK-affiliated Kurdish political spectrum demands mother-tongue education for Kurdish-origin Turkish citizens. In Syria, the PKK-affiliated de facto administration is prohibiting the small Armenian, Assyrian and Syriac Christian minority from receiving education in their mother tongues.
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