Syrian-Pakistani talks to enhance educational cooperation
Minister of Education, Dr. Darem Tabbaa, discussed with his Pakistani counterpart, Rana Tanvir Hussain, ways to enhance cooperation between the two countries and steps for educational development, including the development of school curricula.
During the meeting, which took place on the sidelines of the activities of the Education Transformation Summit currently being held in New York, Minister Tabbaa highlighted the historical relations between Syria and Pakistan and the continuous cooperation agreements in the field of education and culture that were renewed last year.
Tabbaa pointed to the Pakistan International School in Syria, which teaches according to the Cambridge certificate and is considered one of the best international schools in Syria. It accommodates, in addition to Pakistani and foreign students, Syrian students and provides good educational results.
Tabbaa underlined the importance of cooperation between the two countries in terms of addressing the phenomenon of school dropout, as well as the possibility of cooperation to establish virtual schools to provide education for these children, pointing to the difficulties imposed by the economic sanctions imposed on Syria.
For his part, Minister Hussein affirmed the desire to strengthen cooperation relations in various fields with the Syrian side, especially in the educational sector, in terms of exchanging experiences between teachers, offering scholarships to students and benefiting from the experience of the two countries. He called for the formation of a committee to discuss activating cooperation between the two ministries, especially with regard to school dropouts, as there are currently 22 million children out of school in Pakistan.
The meeting was attended by Syria’s permanent representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Bassam Sabbagh, Director of Planning and International Cooperation Ghassan Al-Shughari, Secretary of the National Committee for UNESCO, Dr. Nidal Hassan, and a team from the Syrian and Pakistani missions.
Inas Abdulkareem