DAMASCUS, (SANA)-President Bashar al-Assad and Mrs. Asma al-Assad on Wednesday held a reception in Damascus on the occasion of Arab Teacher's Day, attended by more than 100 teachers of schools that achieved high success averages in the rural remote areas.

The President congratulated the teachers on this occasion, saying "this occasion won't only constitute an opportunity to celebrate the Teacher's Day, but it is a day for celebrating excellence and distinction."

President al-Assad added "we have chosen the teachers of remote areas to honor them because these areas are the most which suffer in the educational process," underlining that concentration on the distant areas in education will be permanent.

President al-Assad pointed out that teachers in rural remote areas are facing two challenges, the first is the general challenge facing the whole educational process in Syria represented by how we boost the national identity embodied by culture, traditions, customs and national belonging.

The President clarified that the essence of the educational process and the essence of cultural challenge is the Arabic language, which conveys all traditions and customs which we speak, and it has to be the start point of the educational process.

President al-Assad added that the second challenge is related to the rural areas and the suffering of teachers and families which might lead to a large number of students to drop out, thus the task of the teacher in these areas is doubled.

The President pointed out that when we talk about the learning process in the rural areas, we do not only mean that a student should learn reading and writing but rather we stress the idea of distinction and the importance of investing rural communities belonging to the land which forms one of the most important bases to build the country.

President Bashar al-Assad and Mrs. al-Assad discussed with the teachers their situation and educational affairs in the areas where they came from. For their part, teachers thanked President al-Assad and Mrs. al-Assad for their generous initiative.

In statements to SANA, a number of teachers expressed the importance of this honoring in their teaching career and the incentive it gives to exert more efforts to achieve better quality in teaching.

Zeinab Hassan Dada of Imro al-Qeis school of Rmeilan in al-Hasaka said that President al-Assad's honoring of teachers is a motive to exert more efforts to upgrade the educational process.

For his part, Faris al-Hassan of al-Raqqa said the teacher is the cornerstone in building the human being for their important role in teaching generations, pointing out that teaching demands credibility and devotion.

Abdul Rahman Abboud of Der Ezzor said that this honoring makes teachers work harder to keep the level of distinction which we achieved and exert double efforts to help students succeed.

Tharwat Moussa Taher of al-Qamishli pointed out that President al-Assad's honoring has special importance and makes them feel their position and role in society.

On the criteria of choosing teachers and schools to be honored, Education Minister Ali Saad said that the honored are those who kept the level of distinction for five years compared with their counterparts in those areas in addition to other criteria inside the school depending on teachers.

Minister Saad pointed out that the honoring for the ministry is a permanent guide to increase interest in those areas.

Fadi Allafi .Mazen Eyon