Around 150 Syrian women have graduated from the country’s newly established Women’s Police Institute in Al-Tal, north of Damascus, marking the academy’s first graduating class as Syria’s authorities work to rebuild the country’s security institutions.
The graduates completed a six-month training programme that included military and physical training, police and legal studies, field skills and instruction on dealing with community issues that require the presence of female officers. Training also covered areas including human rights, police regulations, immigration and passports, and combating drugs.
Brigadier General Huda Sarjawi, director of the Women’s Police Institute, said the graduation represented the first cohort of policewomen in what she described as a “new Syria”. She said women’s participation in the security sector was important for increasing their role in different areas of society.
Interior Minister Anas Khattab attended the graduation ceremony and said the graduates had completed comprehensive training in security, legal and administrative subjects. He said they would now begin a new phase of service in the police and in support of society.
The ceremony saw the newly graduated policewomen march in formation and carry out training exercises before meeting and celebrating with their families. Most of the graduates wore hijabs underneath their official police hats and berets.
Among the graduates was 22-year-old May Aklajneh, who had been studying at university before joining the programme. She said becoming a policewoman had been her childhood dream and that she applied when the opportunity to join opened. Another graduate, 23-year-old Alaa Qassem Wafaa, said the training was difficult at first but expressed hope of continuing her career through an officers’ course.
The Women’s Police Institute was inaugurated in March, and the first graduates are expected to join Interior Ministry forces in different parts of Syria. The ministry has indicated that the institute will continue training additional groups of female police personnel.
Women previously served in Syria’s police and military under former President Bashar Assad, although their numbers were limited. Under Syria’s current military structure, women are not being accepted as soldiers. Meanwhile, representatives of the Kurdish Women’s Protection Units (YPJ) have held discussions with the Interior Ministry about integrating former YPJ fighters into Syria’s state security forces, although an agreement has not yet been reached.
