References to ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his father, who ruled Syria before him, and depictions of pre-Islamic deities have been removed. The definition of martyr has been changed and it now means a person who died for God and not for his country. A queen from the Roman era was removed from some textbooks.
A few weeks after the rebel coalition He overthrew the Assad regimethe interim government they installed in Damascus moved quickly to order a number of changes to the country's school curriculum. The changes cover subjects ranging from English and history to science and Islamic studies.
The move has been criticized by teachers and other Syrians, who object not only to the substance of some of the changes, but also to the fact that they were decided so quickly without transparency and without any guidance from teachers or the general public.
Critics say the changes and their unilateral ordering are troubling signs of how the new Syrian government plans to govern the diverse country.
Some of the changes, detailed in nine pages published by the Ministry of Education on social media last week, were widely welcomed, such as removing the definition of the Assad regime from textbooks.
But some Syrians question why other changes are a priority given the more pressing issues the country still faces, such as security, sectarian tensions and an economic crisis.
“Changes should be limited to things that belonged to the previous regime,” said high school French teacher Rose Maya, 45, at a small protest outside the Education Ministry on Sunday. “But all the other changes are unnecessary.”
Maya was joined by about twenty other people, including teachers, students, doctors, and artists, holding placards expressing their various objections to the changes. Next to him was another teacher, Muayid Muflih, with a sign that read, “Power belongs to the people, not to the people.”
Mr. Muflih said that until recently, he taught nationalism, a subject that served the Assad regime's agenda. It has now been completely removed from the curriculum.
Referring to Minister of Education Nazir Muhammad al-Qadri, Mrs. Maya said that “as an interim minister, he should not make changes.” He said there should be transparency regarding the revision of the textbooks and the committees formed by the ministry to suggest changes. “Teachers need to be involved,” he said.
The ministry has defended the changes and pushed back against suggestions that the changes are Islamist or refer to Salafism, the conservative branch of Sunni Islam to which many of the country's new leaders belong.
“Changes were necessary after the liberation of Syria,” Mr. al-Qadri said in an interview on Sunday. “These amendments were not changes to the curriculum, but changes to some slogans and symbols used to praise the previous regime.”
Mr. al-Qadri was part of the education ministry in northwestern Syria's Idlib province, which is now controlled by the Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, the interim government.
According to him, specialized committees including members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham-led government in Idlib province and members of the Assad-era education ministry reviewed the textbooks and proposed changes.
Mutasem Syoufi, executive director of the non-profit group “Day After”, said that the interim government is trying to impose its views not only on Syria's political system, but also on its public life. The Day After was founded in 2012 by members of the Syrian opposition to plan the transition phase in Syria after the overthrow of the Assad regime.
“The changes are a clear reflection of a very narrow reading of Islam, and it reminds us of the past of the group that is leading Syria today,” he said. “There is no comprehensive view.”
Mr. Sufi said the speed with which the curriculum changes were made suggests they were prepared before the interim government took power.
All over Syria, even as people to celebrate there is the overthrow of a brutal and autocratic regime some fear about the country's future under a government led by Islamist rebels.
Syria's de facto new leader Ahmad al-Sharahe recently said it could take two to three years to draft a new constitution and up to four years to hold elections, alarming some Syrians who fear replacing one authoritarian leader with another.
At the protest, several questioned why ousting the Roman-era queen was suddenly such a priority for Syria's new leadership, which was already overwhelmed by the burden of running the entire country. reconstruction of the state.
On page 19 of the third-grade Islamic studies textbook, the reference to Zenobia, a queen in the Roman colony of Palmyra in what is now central Syria, has been deleted. A vague entry in the ministry's change list was read by many as evidence that he was a fictitious person.
Mr. al-Qadri said that it was not removed from history textbooks. He said that he was removed from the textbook of Islamic studies because he lived and ruled in the pre-Islamic period.
“We do not deny that Zenobia existed in history,” he said. However, he said, “we object to its inclusion in this book.”
However, the removal of the female leader from the textbook has worried some Syrians, who see it as an attack on Syria's history.
“If we teach this generation that he is a fictional character, then we lose touch with the past,” said Ms. Maya. “That means we don't have a past. “He who has no past has no future.”
According to some Syrians, such changes should await the writing of a constitution and elections. They should also be part of a wider dialogue between different parts of Syrian society, including different religions, sects and ethnicities, they said.
Malak Muhammad Suleiman, a dentist, said, “At this point, their only focus should be on ensuring security and clarifying how they came to power and what their plans are.”
One of the curriculum changes that worries Syrians is related to the translation of the Koran. The last verse of the first chapter of the Muslim holy book talks about “those who go astray”.
In the previous first grade Islamic studies book, this phrase was defined as “those who deviate from the right path”. Under the new government's changes, this phrase is now defined as “Christians and Jews”.
Manwella al-Hakim, a 60-year-old abstract artist and observant Muslim wearing a hijab, held up a sign protesting this new interpretation at a protest.
“We don't want things to separate us,” he said. “Syria has always had all religions and all beliefs.”
Beside him, 61-year-old retired journalist Ziyad al-Khoury held up two signs, one of which read: “I am a Christian and not a heretic.”
Mr. al-Khoury said he was shocked when he first heard of the change.
“It felt like a message from the new government that we are not part of this country,” he said.