Jihadist group seeks influence in Syria’s Idlib via religious schools
The influence of religious schools is growing in Idlib, with their fundamentalist curricula under the supervision of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.
Amid the deteriorating conditions in public schools in Syria’s northwestern province of Idlib and lack of funding, with teachers who have worked without getting paid for years going on regular strikes, in addition to the high cost of living and the bad economic situation, religious schools have proliferated across the area.
One of the most prominent religious schools in Idlib is Dar al-Wahi al-Sharif, which consists of an educational institution that teaches the Quran and Sharia through several affiliated schools. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham’s (HTS) so-called Salvation Government. However, its curricula is not issued by this ministry and is not taught in other schools in the area. The curricula is prepared by Dar al-Wahi al-Sharif officials, who are affiliated with HTS.
Dar al-Wahi al-Sharif, which opened in Idlib in late 2017, works to attract large numbers of pupils in the area, offering attractive incentives and benefits, in a bid to educate a more ideological generation that would carry HTS' ideas and serve its interests.
Dar al-Wahi al-Sharif’s schools are based on gender segregation for both students and teachers, restricting female teachers to female students.
