-
Mass Forced Transfer and Sectarian Approach in the Education Sector in Baniyas
Local media sources have revealed that official authorities affiliated with the Syrian government in Baniyas issued collective and arbitrary transfer decisions targeting more than 108 teachers, most of whom are from the Alawite sect. These decisions involved transferring teachers from their original schools in the surrounding villages of Baniyas to areas of high sectarian and security sensitivity.
The transfer orders included villages such as Zalou, Tiro, Al-Munzala, Deir Al-Bashil, Barmaya, Al-Qalou, Harisoon, Mahaarati, Bostan Al-Hamam, among others. Teachers were dispersed to schools located in distant areas from their homes, including Al-Bayda, Basateen Al-Assad, Ras Al-Nabae, Qal'at Al-Marqab, and Al-‘Adimia, regions known for armed cells and foreign factions. Some of these areas are classified as tense security hotspots, especially Qal'at Al-Marqab.
Despite attempts by official authorities to justify these measures under the guise of administrative and organizational reasons, sources from the educational staff and local community indicate that this action bears a convincing sectarian character and is part of a systematic policy aimed at preventing the influence of the Alawite sect in the education and administrative sectors of the Syrian coastal governorate. This is achieved through dismantling local cadres and relocating them to unstable or socially fragmented environments.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) has received complaints from several affected teachers, who viewed these transfer decisions as veiled coercive messages, reflecting a broader context of threats and arrests targeting educational staff over the past months. These actions are justified under various pretexts, including political employment and sectarian revenge.
The Observatory expresses deep concern over these practices, considering the use of teachers as tools in political and sectarian conflicts a blatant violation of human rights and a breach of principles of neutrality at the institutional and professional level. It holds the authorities in Baniyas fully responsible for the potential repercussions of such policies, warning that their continuation could lead to the disintegration of social fabric and ignite societal explosion if immediate reversal and cessation of these measures are not undertaken. These actions are regarded as a form of systematic employment displacement.
Furthermore, the Observatory reaffirms that teachers are a fundamental element in building generations and must be respected and honored, not marginalized or used as tools for settling scores or manipulated for influence in transient power struggles.
