Syria school curriculum changes fuel fears about Islamist rebels after Assad

Changes announced to Syria's school curriculum have sparked backlash over fears that Ahmed al-Sharaa and Hayat Tahrir al-Sham planned an Islamist future.

In the scramble to rewrite Syria’s future, it is perhaps no surprise that the classroom would lay bare cracks in the country’s fragile unity.

Widespread outcry followed an announcement that Syria’s new leadership was planning sweeping changes to the country’s education curriculum. To some wary of the rebel leaders who toppled the Assad regime last month, the changes were seen as a hint of their intent to install an Islamist agenda in the country’s schools — and beyond.

Syria’s education ministry announced the changes in a post on Facebook on Wednesday, the first day of the new year, sharing 16 pages of planned modifications to the country’s educational curriculum.

Some of the changes were less surprising, such as removing all references to ousted dictator Bashar al-Assad and his late father, Hafez al-Assad.

Others, however, sparked swift backlash.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/syria-school-curriculum-changes-islamist-rebels-assad-rcna186078

---