ReutersThere is growing concern in Syria that the new Islamist-led authorities have already decided on changes to the school curriculum without input from the rest of society.
The transitional government's education ministry's Facebook page posted the new curriculum for all age groups, which will take on a more Islamic bias, as well as remove any mention of the Assad era in all subjects.
The phrase “Protection of the Nation” was replaced with “Protection of Allah”, among other changes.
Education Minister Nazir al-Qadri downplayed the move, saying the curriculum was essentially unchanged and would remain so until specialized committees were set up to review and revise it.
Other proposed changes include removing evolution and the Big Bang theory from science teaching.
References to the gods worshiped in pre-Islamic Syria, as well as images of their statues, are also removed.
The importance of the great Syrian heroine Queen Zenobia, who once ruled Palmyra during the Roman era, seems to have been downplayed.
The Assad era has essentially been removed from the curriculum, including poems glorifying both Bashar al-Assad and his father Hafez, in Arabic courses.
In a statement, al-Qadri said the only instructions he issued were to remove content he described as glorifying the “non-existent Assad regime” and to place the Syrian revolutionary flag in all textbooks.
The minister also said that “inaccuracies” in the Islamic education curriculum have been corrected.
ReutersThe changes were welcomed by some Syrians.
But the move has raised alarm among resurgent civil society activists, many of whom have returned to Syria for the first time in many 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 moves forward under its new leadership.
There are already calls for protests ahead of the start of the new term on Sunday.
Activists want to make it clear that they oppose any move by the transitional government to make changes to the education system – or any other state institution – without the participation of all parts of Syrian society.
The new government took great care of holding a Conference for National Dialogue.
Officials hold 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 participation of all sections of society so that everyone has a stake in the country's future.
But campaigners believe unilateral changes to the school curriculum undermine such promises and want to take a stand from the ground up on the values of freedom and inclusion that the removal of Bashar al-Assad has now made possible.