Changes in the new government’s school curriculum raise concern

Concern is growing in Syria that the new Islamist-led authorities have already decided on changes to the school curriculum, without the participation of the rest of society.

The Facebook page of the transitional government’s Ministry of Education has published the new curriculum for all age groups, which will adopt a more Islamic bias, as well as removing any reference to the Assad era in all subjects.

The phrase “Defend the nation” has been replaced with “Defend Allah”, among other changes.

Education Minister Nazir al-Qadri downplayed the move, saying the curriculum is essentially unchanged and will remain that way until specialized committees have been created to review and revise it.

Other proposed changes include the elimination of the theory of evolution and the Big Bang from science education.

References to gods worshiped in Syria before Islam, as well as images of their statues, are also being removed.

The importance of the great Syrian heroine, Queen Zenobia, who once ruled Palmyra in Roman times, seems to have been downplayed.

The Assad era has essentially been removed from the curriculum, including poems celebrating both Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez, in Arabic language courses.

In a statement, al-Qadri said the only instructions he had given were related to the removal of content he described as glorifying the “defunct Assad regime” and the installation of the Syrian revolutionary flag in all textbooks.

The minister also said that “inaccuracies” in the Islamic education curriculum had been corrected.

Some Syrians have welcomed the changes.

But the move has raised alarm bells among resurgent civil society activists, many of whom have returned to Syria for the first time in many years.

They fear it is a sign that their voices – and those of groups and communities across the country – may not be heard as the country develops under its new leadership.

There have already been calls for protests before the start of the new school term on Sunday.

Activists want to make clear their opposition to any move by the transitional government to introduce changes to the education system – or any other state institution – without the participation of all sectors of Syrian society.

The new authorities have placed great importance on the fact that they will hold a National Dialogue Conference.

Officials have held meetings with many different communities, from Christians to Kurds to artists and intellectuals.

The message has been that they want to create a new Syria with the participation of all sectors of society so that everyone has a stake in the future of the country.

But activists believe that unilateral changes to the school curriculum undermine such promises and want to defend from the beginning the values ​​of freedom and inclusion that the removal of Bashar al-Assad has now made possible.