Syria Justice Archive

Laïque Institute in Damascus Announces Gender Segregation Following Campaign for Islamic Law In a brief Facebook post, the Laïque Institute in #Damascus announced the segregation of male and female students, stating that the decision followed “a careful and transparent study.” The institute noted that separate classrooms and courtyards would be designated for each sex. The school, whose curriculum is conducted primarily in French, was founded in 1929 under an agreement between the Syrian government and the French secular mission (Mission Laïque Française), the source of its name, “Laïque,” meaning secular. However, under the STG, the process of Afghanizing Syria continues on the ground, despite all the efforts of public relations firms. It is worth recalling that last July, the “Saroujah Neighborhood Committee” in Damascus issued a statement declaring that it had successfully carried out its mission, having sent an official letter to the Ministry of Education calling for the segregation of male and female students at the Laïque school. The move drew widespread criticism, first, because the school does not even fall within Saroujah’s administrative boundaries, and second, because it was widely seen as an attempt to shift Damascus’s secular character toward a religious model. According to the committee’s statement, as reported by local media, the measure was grounded in “the principles of Islamic sharia.”