The recent modifications made to the Syrian curriculum in the past three years raised a lot of high stakes and concerns among the schools’ stakeholders and the global society. The current HTS which now runs the providence has made several changes that many regard as other extreme policies being rolled in to change the youth. These reforms of textbooks to the first primary to the third secondary grades have given a different view on the future of Syrian education and their corresponding consequence on the society.
It is pertinent to note that the last regimes song and dance, including but not limited to, the anthem have been wiped clean of existence. Such kind of detachment of education from the Assad era may look like a desire to remain neutral, however, the content substitution points to the contrary. The old concept of ‘defending the homeland ’Has thus been replaced by the new concept of ‘for the sake of God’ indicating a shift from nationalist, to religious motivation. This alteration not only undermined the secular foundation of Syrian education but also funds only one kind of religion which effaces multicultural and multifaith syria.
Erasing the ancient history of Syria and Syria’s civilization reducing Queen Zenobia and Khawla bint Al-Azwar into a mere product of imagination of the regime is another one of its attempts. The freedom fighter personality Queen Zenobia is the other icon associates with Syria heritage. Through omission, the authorities are failing to provide models of strong woman, or independent woman that should represent examples for the student as the nation is to be built by such women. Such defining-out is intrinsic to this broader process of ‘governing’ the past in order to govern women, ‘Other’ minorities and subjugated subjects.
In the sphere of science education, such actions as deletion of lessons, on the evolution of the brain, as well as exclusion of the evolutionary theory, is a shocking disregard of all scientific principles existing. Thus, the simplest idea that is contained in the new curricula is to encourage censorship of such topics that only suppress any critical thinking or scientific research. It not only fails to allow students build a proper understanding of some basic concepts of biology but also makes Syrian education process to be outside the world scientific development and future generations to be unable to interact with the international community.
This confirms new trends in radicalization of Islamic education because of extensive changes especially where it abandoned the defense of the nation in favor of defending Allah. This rhetoric echoes the extremists who do not value patriotic spirit and civic responsibility, instead they value religious wars. Thus, such indoctrination is a very dangerous threat to social order because it engenders division and bigotry. These teachings can therefore bootstrap terrorism among the adherants of the faith especially in an area of the world that is well known for religious based killings.
These curriculum changes imply a great deal for the return of Syrian refugees. The extremists are burying their seeds deep in the displaced Syrian’s hearts through implementing such ideology disguised in the education system . This is hampering repatriation prospects majorly because individuals are not willing to have their kids exposed to such extreme changes of faith. This indicates that the new educational policies do not only threaten domestic stability including reconciliation and rebuilding of the nation.
These curriculum changes imply a great deal for the return of Syrian refugees. The extremists are burying their seeds deep in the displaced Syrian’s hearts through implementing such ideology disguised in the education system . This is hampering repatriation prospects majorly because individuals are not willing to have their kids exposed to such extreme changes of faith. This indicates that the new educational policies do not only threaten domestic stability including reconciliation and rebuilding of the nation.
Thus, the recent changes the Syrian government made to the school curricula can be classified as a dangerous move towards an extremism. Through carrier out processes such as elimination of secular and scientific contents, imposition of radical religionisms and distortion of history, these reforms risk putting into the society and especially through education a generation that is bigoted. This must be a wakeup call to the global society to back up preservation of this very critical pillar for rebuilding the future of this nation with a secular and balanced system of education.
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