The new government’s school curriculum changes are raising concerns

There is growing concern in Syria that the new Islamic-led authorities have already decided to change the school curriculum, without input from the rest of society.

The Facebook page of the transitional government’s education ministry has published the new curriculum for all age groups, which will take on a more Islamic bent, as well as drop all references to the Assad era in all subjects.

The phrase “Defending the nation” was replaced by “Defending Allah”, among other changes.

Education Minister Nazir al-Qadri downplayed the move, saying the curriculum is essentially unchanged and will remain so until specialized committees are set up to review and revise it.

Other proposed changes include Evolution and the Big Bang theory being dropped from science teaching.

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

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

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

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

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

The changes were welcomed by some Syrians.

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

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

The new authorities have made a lot of the fact that they are going to hold a National Dialogue Conference.

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

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

But activists believe that unilateral changes in the school curriculum undermine such promises and want to make a position from the beginning for the values ​​of freedom and inclusion that the elimination of Bashar al-Assad has made possible.