Syria’s new Islamic government creates controversy with education overhaul
A list of amendments to textbooks raise questions about assurances that the country’s new rulers will foster an inclusive society.
A planned overhaul of Syria’s education curriculum is spurring concerns about the new government’s assurances that it will rebuild an inclusive society, and leading some to question whether it will seek to impose a conservative Islamic worldview.
The changes, listed in a series of documents released last week by the education ministry, include everything from dropping all references to former dictator Bashar al-Assad to changing religious references and removing the theory of evolution from school textbooks. The changes would apply to all students between the ages of six and 18.
Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the Sunni Islamist group that led the assault that toppled the Assad regime, has said it would treat all Syrians equally – be they women or the country’s many religious and ethnic minorities.
A string of diplomats from the US and Europe have visited Damascus in recent weeks, all trying to assess whether they can trust the transitional government’s promises.
Western powers remain wary of HTS, which began as an offshoot of al-Qa’ida. The group publicly cut ties with al-Qa’ida years ago and has sought to cast itself as more moderate.
On Thursday, Syria’s education minister, Nazir al-Qadri, sought to play down the changes, saying they were meant only to remove glorifying references to the Assad era and inaccuracies in the Islamic education curriculum. He said only some of the changes would be implemented.
“The curricula in all Syrian schools will remain as is until specialised committees are formed to review” them, he said, without elaborating.
A spokesman for HTS didn’t respond to a request for comment. The changes were detailed in 12 documents published on the Education Ministry’s official Facebook page Wednesday. The documents listed amendments to the language and subjects that would be omitted, specifying in which textbook and pages the changes were to be made.
The changes included replacing phrases such as “sacrifice one’s life in defence of his homeland” with “sacrifice one’s life for the sake of Allah (God)” in religious textbooks -- based on a conservative interpretation of verses in the Quran. In other similar changes in religious textbooks, the phrase “path of goodness” was replaced by “Islamic path,” and “those who have gone astray” was changed to “Jews and Christians.” All references to the Assad family’s more than five decades of rule -- from images and slogans to the national anthem -- were cut from textbooks. And there were other historical changes, such as removing from textbooks references to Syrian Queen Zenobia, a legendary female leader who once ruled Palmyra in the Roman era, predating Islam.
The changes also appeared aimed at dialling back criticism of the Ottoman Empire, removing references to the 1916 mass execution of Arab nationalists under the Ottomans. Other amendments included the dropping of evolution -- a Western theory -- from science teaching.
Some Syrians welcomed the changes, especially the dropping of references to the Assad family’s rule, which included poems celebrating Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez. But others expressed concerns on social media about the Islamist-led government rushing to amend the country’s textbooks without input from the rest of the society. Some Syrians have called for nationwide protests and the dismissal of the education minister.
Mar Boutros Qassis, the archbishop of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo, said some of the changes in the curriculum suggested that the country wasn’t heading in the right direction.
“There have been changes related to the Assad regime...which are understandable,” he said. “However, there have also been amendments that interfere with the Islamic ideology of society and education,” he added.
During the Assad era, Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities lived alongside Muslims with minimal friction, but their ties were severely tested by the civil war that broke out in 2011 as many backed opposite sides. The Islamist groups have sought to reassure the minorities that they want to create a new Syria in which they will have full rights and equality with the Muslim majority.
Qadri, the education minister, told Reuters last month that both Muslim and Christian religions would be taught in schools and that the new government wouldn’t restrict the rights of girls to learn. “Education is a red line for the Syrian people, more important than food and water,” he said.
Qadri was previously education minister in Idlib, the northwestern city that became the base for HTS and a de facto statelet under its rule in recent years as it battled the Assad regime.
Hasan Abu Hanieh, an Amman-based expert on Islamic groups, said Syria’s curriculum is likely to have an Islamic influence under the new government. He said similar changes have taken place in Idlib schools under HTS, especially in social sciences, humanities and religious education.
“The shift toward a more Islamic nature is inevitable, though the extent of these changes remains unclear,” he said.
Wall Street Journal
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