March 25, 2014 -- Updated 0429 GMT (1229 HKT)
More Middle East
Syria's 'lost generation'
Rebel academics set up university to save Syria's 'lost generation'
March 20, 2014 -- Updated 0224 GMT (1024 HKT)
The Free Syrian University offers degree courses taught by academics in exile.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- By some estimates, 100,000 Syrians have had to abandon university
- Analysts say education will be the key to rebuilding Syria
- Students in Syria risk harassment, jail time and death to go to school
- A new institution run by academics in exile hopes to save Syrians through education
His mission is seemingly
innocuous. He merely wants to educate the swarms of college-aged Syrian
refugees who have been forced to abandon their studies while fleeing
Syria.
"The universities in
Syria are basically like prisons for students," says Al-Jamal. "They
capture or arrest anyone who opposes the regime. On the other hand,
universities outside the country often don't accept Syrian students, or
the students can't pay the fees or speak the local language."
To some, it may seem like access to higher education is hardly a priority for the 2.5 million refugees
that have fled Syria since the conflict started three years ago. To
Al-Jamal and his fellow academics, however, it is a seminal component in
one day rebuilding a broken country.
The universities in Syria are basically like prisons for students
Dr. Musab al-Jamal, Free Syrian University
Dr. Musab al-Jamal, Free Syrian University
"If (the students who
left their studies) come back to Syria ignorant and illiterate, they
won't be able to help their country," he says.
A former law professor
from Damascus University, Al-Jamal joined other faculty ousted from the
ravaged country to start offering lectures to students in liberated
regions inside Syria, and in neighboring countries.
In 2013, he set up the Free Syrian University,
an academic institution housed in an apartment building in Reyhanli, a
Turkish town near the Syrian border. It offers 13 majors, including law,
psychology and business.
The university is mainly
funded by Al-Jamal himself, and a host of academic volunteers donating
their time and expertise to the cause (Al-Jamal gives them a one-time
payment of $1,500 when they sign up). Any student with the means
contributes $280 per semester for their education.
"The amount is mainly symbolic," admits Al-Jamal. "It barely covers 10% of expenses."
It's difficult to
discern how many Syrians have had to abandon their studies since the
conflict started, though, according to Keith Watenpaugh, an associate
professor at the University of California, Davis, and the co-author of a study on Syria's refugee university students in Jordan, the number likely exceeds 100,000.
"Our major concern is
that the longer this conflict goes on, the more you're creating a lost
generation of college students," he says.
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'Studying is holy'
Today, Syria's
universities -- like many of the country's social institutions -- are,
essentially, collapsing. Watenpaugh estimates they're operating at 50%
capacity, hampered by security issues, fleeing faculty, and broken-down
infrastructure. Often, he notes, students have to cross battle lines
just to attend classes.
Male students -- who
were once exempt from military service -- are now pressured into it. For
those reasons, there is little impetus for those inside the country to
continue their schooling. It's a marked change from how education was
treated in recent decades.
"I think something that
is often lost on people who are only coming to think about Sryia
post-conflict is how important education was as a place where different
minorities and genders mixed. Syria was a place in which education could
be accessed by anyone who received the requisite score on an exam,"
says Adrienne Fricke, a human rights consultant and co-author of
Watenpaugh's study.
"There's long been a
deep commitment to education, and it's not just window dressing.
Historically providing educational access was considered one of the
things the Ba'ath party did really well."
For those students
forced to give up their schooling, their commitment to higher learning
hasn't diminished, even if their opportunities to pursue it have. On a
research trip to Za'atari refugee camp
in Jordan last April, Watenpaugh recalls meeting a group of female
engineering students who smuggled their computers out of the country.
"We asked them how
supportive their parents were, and if they would let them go abroad to
study. They all answered yes. One woman said, 'in our house, studying is
holy.'"
Overcoming obstacles?
I regret that I'm not able to accept the whole Syrian student body
Dr. Musab al-Jamal, Free Syrian University
Dr. Musab al-Jamal, Free Syrian University
The challenges facing those who want to continue their education are fierce.
"They range from the
prosaic, like not having a transcript, or maybe just having a
photocopied one, to the substantive, like having to choose between
tuition and taking care of family," says Watenpaugh.
Neighboring countries
don't always make it easy. Jordan, for instance, is hostile to refugee
institutions that risk becoming permanent. In Turkey, there's the added
barrier of language.
On top of everything
else, space is limited, both at foreign universities, and at the Free
Syrian University, which can accommodate little more than 800 students
-- a fact that keeps Al-Jamal awake at night.
"I regret that I'm not
able to accept the whole Syrian student body, but we don't have the
capabilities. We could only do that if we had more funding," he says.
Furthermore, the refugee
population, of both students and faculty, is disparate, with many still
stuck in Syria. To remedy this, Al-Jamal offers lessons via Skype,
Facebook and email.
Interestingly, many of
Syria's fragmented student population seem to have a singular focus,
according to Fricke: returning home one day.
She says this is
evidenced by the fact that courses at the Free Syrian University are
taught in Arabic, not Turkish. She also cites the fact that several
thousand Syrian refugees in opposition-held areas of Syria and in
neighboring countries rallied to take the high school exit exams based
on the revised 2011 Syrian curriculum.
According to Fricke,
several hundred students chose to take the exit exams recognized by the
Syrian opposition government in exile in Libya.
"The primary reason to
sit for Syrian exams outside of Syria is because you think you can go
back and use them there, especially when it is not clear who outside of
Syria will recognize the results," says Fricke.
Turkey shot down a Syrian fighter jet after the warplane strayed into
its airspace, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told
supporters at a campaign rally. FULL STORY
|
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Turkey shoots down Syrian warplane, Prime Minister Erdogan says
March 23, 2014 -- Updated 1827 GMT (0227 HKT)
Turkey shoots down Syrian plane
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Turkish armed forces: One plane retreated after four warnings; other did not
- Syrian state media say plane was over Syria, accuse Turkey of "blatant aggression"
- Turkish Prime Minister: "If you violate my airspace ... our slap will be hard"
- Area has seen heavy fighting since an opposition offensive began recently
"Our F-16s went up in the
air and shot that plane down. Why? Because if you violate my airspace,
then from now on, our slap will be hard," Erdogan told supporters at a
campaign rally.
State-run media in Syria
called the shoot-down an act of "blatant aggression" and said the downed
plane was over northern Syria at the time.
The pilot ejected and was rescued, SANA reported, citing a military source.
The Turkish armed forces
website reported that two Syrian planes were spotted and were warned
four times about approaching Turkish airspace as they flew north in
Syrian airspace.
One plane left the area
but the second plane continued, and entered Turkish airspace by
approximately 1 kilometer (six-tenths of a mile). The plane turned west
and continued to fly into Turkish airspace, according to the site.
One of the two Turkish
F-16s patrolling the area launched a missile at the Syrian plane and it
crashed in the area of the town of Keseb, in Syrian territory near the
border, Turkish armed forces said.
Syrian government forces
have battled rebel fighters in Syria's Latakia province since Friday
morning after the opposition launched an offensive in the heavily
Alawite populated areas of the country's Mediterranean coast.
The province is still under government control despite some pockets of armed resistance.
Warplanes have been
striking at the opposition in Latakia, the home province of Syrian
President Bashar al-Assad, in hopes of preventing a rebel advance.
One of the pitched
battles on Friday occurred in Keseb, just 3 kilometers (2 miles) from
Turkey. Sunday's SANA report said the Syrian jets were pursuing rebels
in the area.
Syria shot down a Turkish plane in 2012, and the two sides have exchanged artillery fire in the past.
In October 2012, Turkey fired on Syrian government targets in response to the shelling of a Turkish border town in which five civilians were killed.
CNN's Slma Shelbayah and Saad Abedine contributed to this report.
COPY http://edition.cnn.com/
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