School education in Syria is 12 years long. Free and compulsory in the primary and preparatory levels (grades 1 to 9). Free but not compulsory in the secondary level (grades 10-12).
During each semester, students are exposed to oral and written tests and final exams. Of course, Arabic is the language of instruction at all levels of education there. Schools teach English from grade 1, in addition to French or Russian (optional) from grade 7 as second languages. There are 571 public and 305 private schools in Damascus only. Surely, private schools have high fees and provide extra educative activities.
