Official data revealed an unprecedented decline in the rates of students taking the exams for the basic and secondary education certificates in Sweida, which prompted the Directorate of Education in the governorate to request an exceptional exam session inside Sweida to ensure that the academic year is not lost to thousands of students.
According to an official letter addressed by the Directorate of Education in Sweida to the Ministry of Education, the percentage of applicants for the Basic Education Certificate exams did not exceed only 5% of the total registered students, while the percentage of applicants for the high school exams in its various branches reached about 4%.
The directorate believes that these figures reflect "the magnitude of the crisis facing the people of the province", warning of serious repercussions if the situation continues as it is.
The Directorate called on the Ministry to approve the holding of a special exam course inside Sweida, stressing its full readiness to secure the centers, cadres and supplies, and to ensure the safety of supervisors and ministerial teams within the governorate.
238 students took the high school certificate exam
According to the figures, the number of applicants for high school reached only 238 students, including about 190 in the scientific branch and 20 in the literary branch, while the rest were distributed among the professional branches, and this figure reflects a large gap compared to more than 6,000 students who were originally registered in the centers designated for the children of Sweida.
One of the centers, which was supposed to receive about 400 students, only 35 students attended, according to a source in the Directorate of Education in the Damascus Countryside, who pointed out that the students spoke of threats from groups affiliated with the Hijri militia, while others faced great difficulties in leaving the governorate, and some of their families were threatened by the National Guard.
These figures and data contradict a previous statement by the governor of Sweida, Mustafa al-Bakour, regarding the presence of more than 1,500 male and female students from Sweida taking exams in Damascus and its countryside.
These developments come after the Ministry of Education's decision to move the exams of Sweida students to Damascus to ensure a safe environment, a decision that faced objection from local groups within the governorate, which led to the stalled access of most students to the designated centers.
The Ministry of Education refuses to hold the exam for the two certificates inside Sweida
On May 14, 2026, the Ministry of Education issued a decision to hold the exams for the basic and secondary education certificates in all its branches for the 2026 session for the children of Sweida governorate in the governorates of Damascus and Rural Damascus.
The Ministry justified its decision in a statement published through its official IDs that it comes in implementation of its duties to preserve the right of students to apply for the general certificate exams and in terms of the examination process requires a safe and fair environment and educational requirements to conduct them.
According to this decision, about 17,000 students from Sweida must be transferred to temporary exam centers in the Damascus countryside, which was widely rejected by parents and local activists for fear of exposing students to security risks while traveling, according to them.
The refusal turned into a field action, with local factions — including the Shahba operations room and the Hijri National Guard — blocking roads and preventing buses from leaving the governorate.
Al-Hijri rejects a UN initiative to solve the crisis of the exams of Sweida students
During his meeting with a delegation from the United Nations on Monday (June 1st) at his home in the town of Canals in the countryside of Sweida, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, the spiritual head of the Druze Unitarian sect, Sheikh Hikmat al-Hijri, rejected a UN initiative that includes "the United Nations and its affiliated organizations taking responsibility for protecting students and securing their logistical transport from Sweida to the Damascus countryside", in an attempt to dispel the security concerns that some invoke.
Sources following up on the results of the meeting told "Syrian News" that Sheikh Al-Hijri rejected the UN initiative and insisted on his position rejecting the transfer of students outside the governorate, stressing the need to hold exams inside Sweida and not allow the educational file to be turned into a "pressure card or a political arena", as he put it.
Al-Hijri stressed that protecting students and ensuring their right to education within their safe environment is a "red line" for the people of the governorate and its activities.
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