Thousands of students in Syria’s Sweida province are facing another year of disrupted education as political and security tensions between Damascus and local Druze factions continue to prevent normal examinations.
Only 150 of approximately 13,700 school students in Sweida were able to take the national examinations needed to progress to higher levels of education during the initial 2026 exam session, according to government figures reported by Reuters. Many university students have also been unable to return to institutions in government-controlled parts of Syria.
The education crisis stems from the deep mistrust created by deadly sectarian violence in Sweida in 2025. Many families remain reluctant to send their children into government-controlled areas, while Damascus has struggled to establish examination arrangements acceptable to local factions.
The government proposed sending examination officials into Sweida and later designated examination centres in the government-controlled northern part of the province. However, concerns over security and possible confrontation prevented many students from attending.
A special examination session was subsequently arranged for students who had missed the regular exams. Yet even that process faced disruption when buses carrying students and examination staff were reportedly blocked on roads leading to examination centres.
For students, the consequences extend beyond missed examinations. University students have been forced to delay studies, while school students face uncertainty over progression to higher education.
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The United Nations has said efforts to resolve the wider Sweida dispute have made little progress, leaving education vulnerable to continued political and security instability. For a generation of Syrian students, academic plans are increasingly being shaped not by their grades or ambitions, but by whether it is safe and possible to reach a classroom or examination centre.
