Malath’s Stance on the Right to Education

Malath follows with concern the developments related to the examinations of students in As-Suwayda, particularly the requirement that thousands of students travel to examination centers outside the governorate under highly sensitive security, humanitarian, and psychological conditions.

We believe that the right to education is inseparable from the right to safety, dignity, and physical and psychological well-being.
Access to an examination cannot be considered a fulfilled right if reaching it requires students or their families to cross areas associated, for them, with violence, displacement, destruction, or fear.

We also believe that the responsibility to protect the right of children and young people to education lies with the relevant authorities, and that addressing exceptional circumstances should not place an additional security or psychological burden on students and their families.

From this standpoint, we support any solution that ensures students can take their exams in a safe, stable, and appropriate environment, close to their communities, without obstacles, pressure, or discrimination.

We do not treat this issue as an administrative disagreement over the location of the exam, but as a deeper question:
how do we protect the right to learn when the surrounding environment becomes unsafe?

We further believe that education in conflict contexts should not be turned into a tool for political pressure, and that students should not be forced into an impossible choice between their educational future and their safety.

Malath’s stance is that protecting the right to education also means protecting the conditions that make the exercise of this right possible, safe, and fair.

We do not speak on behalf of students; we stand with their right to have a voice and a safe place to learn and take their exams. We call on the relevant authorities to provide safe examination alternatives within the governorate, and not to place additional burdens on students and their families – away from incitement and hatred, and in a manner that preserves students’ dignity and their right to a fair educational future.