References to ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his father, who ruled Syria before him, were removed, as were images of pre-Islamic gods. The definition of martyr was changed to mean someone who died for God rather than country. Roman queens are featured in some textbooks.
Just weeks after a coalition of rebels overthrew Assad’s regime, the interim government the rebels established in Damascus moved quickly, ordering a number of changes to the country’s school curriculum. The revisions range from English and history to science and Islamic studies.
The move has been criticized by teachers and other Syrians, who say the decisions were made too quickly and without transparency or guidance from teachers or the public, as well as the nature of some of the changes. It is also against the facts.
Critics say the change and the unilateral manner in which it was ordered are a worrying sign of how Syria’s new government intends to govern the diverse country.
Some of the changes, detailed in nine pages published by the Education Ministry on social media last week, have been widely welcomed, such as removing glorification of the Assad regime from textbooks.
But some Syrians still question why other changes are a priority, given the more pressing issues such as security insecurity, sectarian tensions and economic crisis still facing the country. There are some too.
“The amendments should be limited to those related to the previous government,” French high school teacher Rose Maya, 45, said at a small protest against the amendments in front of the Ministry of Education on Sunday. . “But you don’t have to make all the other changes.”
Maya was joined by about 24 people, including teachers, students, doctors and artists, holding placards expressing various objections to the changes. Next to her was another teacher, Mouaid Mufri, holding a placard that read, “Power belongs to the people, not over them.”
Mufli said that until recently, he taught about nationalism, which was widely seen as helpful to the Assad regime’s policies. It has now been completely removed from the curriculum.
“There should be no changes as caretaker minister,” Maya said, referring to Education Minister Nazir Mohammad al-Qadri. He also said there needed to be transparency about the committee the ministry said was set up to review textbooks and recommend changes. “Teachers should be involved,” she says.
The ministry has defended the changes and pushed back against suggestions that they are Islamist or a nod to Salafism, the conservative sect of Sunni Islam to which many of the country’s new leaders belong. .
“After the liberation of Syria, we had to make adjustments,” al-Qadri said in an interview Sunday. “These changes are not changes to the curriculum, but changes to some of the slogans and symbols used to glorify the previous government.”
Al-Qadri was a member of the education ministry in Syria’s northwestern Idlib province, run by the Islamic rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, which currently heads the transitional government.
He said an expert committee that included both members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham-led government in Idlib province and members of Assad’s education ministry reviewed the textbooks and recommended changes.
Mutassem Shoufi, executive director of the non-profit organization Day After, said the transitional government is trying to impose its vision not only on Syria’s political system but also on the lives of its people. The Day After was founded in 2012 by members of the Syrian opposition to plan Syria’s transition period after the eventual fall of the Assad regime.
“This change clearly reflects a very narrow view of Islam and is once again reminiscent of the background of the group in charge of Syria today,” he said. “There is no comprehensive perspective.”
Shoffi said the speed of the curriculum changes suggested they were prepared before the caretaker government took power.
Across Syria, while people are celebrating the overthrow of a brutal dictatorship, there is some uncertainty about the country’s future under a government led by Islamic rebels.
Syria’s new de facto leader, Ahmed al-Shara, recently said it could take two to three years to draft a new constitution and up to four years to hold elections, undermining the autocratic leadership. That alarmed some Syrians who expressed concern that he had been replaced with another leader. .
Several protesters wondered why getting rid of the Roman queen was such a priority for Syria’s new leadership, which is suddenly running the entire country and is already busy rebuilding the country. questioned.
References to Queen Zenobia of Palmyra, a Roman colony in present-day central Syria, have been removed from page 19 of a third-grade Islamic textbook. The ambiguity in the ministry’s list of changes has been taken by many as evidence that the ministry considers her a fictitious character.
Al-Qadri said she has not been removed from history textbooks. He said she was removed from Islamic studies textbooks because she lived and ruled in a pre-Islamic era.
“We do not deny that Zenobia existed in history,” he said. However, he said, “We object to including her in this book.”
Nevertheless, the removal of women leaders from textbooks has worried some Syrians, who consider this an attack on Syria’s storied history.
“If we teach this generation that she’s a fictional character, we lose touch with our past,” Maya said. “That means we have no past, and what has no past has no future.”
Some Syrians say such changes must wait for a constitution and elections. They also said it should be part of a broader dialogue between different parts of Syrian society, comprising different religions, sects and ethnicities.
Dentist Malak Muhammad Suleiman said: “Their focus at the moment is to strengthen security and find out how they came to power and what their plans are.” It should be there,” he said.
Another curriculum change that concerns Syrians concerns the translation of Quranic verses. The last verse of the first chapter of the Islamic holy book refers to “those who have gone astray.”
In the previous 1st grade Islamic studies book, this word was defined as “those who have strayed from the right path.” Under the new government’s changes, the term is now defined as “Christians and Jews.”
Manwera al-Hakim, a 60-year-old hijab-wearing abstract painter and observant Muslim, held a placard at a protest against this new interpretation.
“We don’t want anything to happen that divides us,” she said. “Syria has always had all religions and all beliefs.”
Near her, Ziyad Al Khoury, a 61-year-old former journalist, held up two placards, one of which read: “I am a Christian and I am not misguided.” It was dark.
Al Khoury said he was shocked when he first heard about the change.
“It felt like a message from the new government that we are not part of this country,” he said.
