For over 40 years the regime has gone about systematically destroying Syria's education system. Students and young people are paying the price for schools and universities which are outdated in their curriculums and teaching methods, and which offer few practical skills. Teachers and lecturers enjoy little freedom of action, while valuable teaching time is taken up by political indoctrination lessons. Syria does not have enough schools and universities. Classes are overcrowded and only a fraction of young people get the opportunity to attend a higher education institute.

Every young person in Syria dreads compulsory military service. For a youth in the prime of his life, the "training" that is offered is humiliating and soul destroying. Thousands of youths emerge from two years of military service demoralized and defeated. For the sake of our youth, we need to move away from conscription.

Young people in Syria are not offered guidance on careers. The current system does not take into account the requirements of the job market. We need to instate a mechanism whereby education is employment-orientated rather than being purely academic. Youth unemployment in Syria is reaching frightening levels.

Students and young people need a voice. Student unions have been hijacked by the Ba'th Party and have become instruments for enforcement, rather than organs of expression. Students are demanding a return to the independence of student organizations, and we in the Movement for Justice and Development champion that cause.