While stacking its leadership with jihadists and threatening minorities, the new regime in Syria is also seeking to radically revise its educational curriculum for children aged 6 to 18. While some of the reforms to de-Ba’athify are welcome, others are causing concern about the future of Syria post-Assad. These include:
1. Eradication of Syria’s pre-Islamic past.
References to Syria’s pre-Islamic religions and gods are slated to be removed. The new curriculum plans to remove references to Queen Zenobia of the Palmyrene Empire, who briefly took territory from the Roman Empire in Arabia, Egypt, and Asia Minor.
The erasure of Zenobia is reminiscent of ISIS’s hatred for all things pre-Islamic, as evidenced in their beheading of archaeologist Dr. Khaled al-As’ad, who refused to give ISIS the location of ancient artifacts, and their destruction of countless key pre-Islamic treasures like the Temple of Baal Shamim, the Temple of Bel, the Arch of Triumph, the Tetrapylon, Jonah’s Tomb, the ancient cities of Nineveh and Nimrud, and various Assyrian and Akkadian artifacts in Mosul’s museum.
2. Demonization of Jews and Christians.
The new curriculum seeks to change references of “those who are damned and have gone astray,” “the cursed” and “the misguided” to “Jews and Christians.” This comes on the heels of growing reports of HTS persecution of Christians and puts al-Jolani’s recent charm offensive to Syria’s nine-person-strong Jewish community in question.
The curriculum changes sound like Qatar’s textbooks, which are chock full of anti-Semitic and anti-Christian references and contrasts with Saudi Arabia’s textbooks that have recently purged most of the problematic verses relating to Jews and Christians in the wake of the Abraham Accords. Additionally, some reports indicate that Jews and Christians will now be required to learn about Islam starting in the first grade, and Judaism and Christianity will be taught with a critical lens. Under Assad, the curriculum included multiple religions, and non-Muslims were not required to learn about Islam.
3. More explicit Islamist interpretations.
The changes also amend the definition of “martyr” from someone who dies for the “homeland” to someone who dies “for the sake of God.” The phrase “governed by the law of Justice” will be replaced by “governed by the Sharia of God.” Another reference to “law” will be replaced by “commitment to Sharia and law.” (RELATED: New Syria Doubles Down on Jihad)
Additionally, the new curriculum plans to ban a broad category of “innovative claims in the field of religion and fabricated hadiths,” which seemingly narrows what can be acceptable religious interpretation. The emphasis on a radical Islamist interpretation of martyrdom and theocracy is also more in line with Qatar’s textbooks, which continue to praise jihad, but again contrasts with Saudi textbook reform that has removed most problematic references to martyrdom and jihad.
4. Purging scientific inquiry.
Changes to the curriculum also include removing references to the Big Bang Theory and the Theory of Evolution, as well as an entire section on the “Origin and Evolution of Life,” and a paragraph on the “Evolution of the Brain.”
5. Revisionist history.
Lastly, the new curriculum seeks to eliminate mentions of the Ottoman rule of Syria, which the Ba’athist curriculum called “oppressive,” as well as references to French colonialism and Syrian opposition to that colonialism. Removal of the unfavorable portrayal of Ottoman rule could be a nod to Turkey, which backs HTS and the current regime.
The new Syria’s proposed education reforms are a slide towards jihadism and intolerance of minorities, and away from scientific and historical inquiry.
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