Pages and accounts across social media circulated a report claiming that the Syrian Minister of Education issued a decision banning the wearing of the niqab inside classrooms, along with removing sheikhs and preachers from the ministry’s administrative ranks in order to distance it from any religious character.
A search using relevant keywords and a review of official government sources — including the Ministry of Education’s website, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA), and official news platforms — found no decision, circular, or official statement documenting or referring to these claims. Tracing the claim’s spread also showed that the first to publish it was a page called “the Syrian Christian Observatory,” before it moved to other platforms and spread widely as an issued government decision.
Why is this claim false?
Fabricating administrative decisions: Non-existent decisions were fabricated and attributed to the Minister of Education regarding banning the niqab in classrooms and removing preachers from the ministry’s ranks, and circulated without reliance on any official references.
