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References to the ousted President Bashar al-Assad and his father, who ruled Syria before him, have been removed, as have images of pre-Islamic gods. The definition of a martyr has been changed, and it now means someone who has died for God, not one\u2019s country. A Roman-era queen has been taken out of some textbooks.<\/p>\n
Just weeks after a coalition of rebels toppled the Assad regime<\/a>, the interim government they have set up in Damascus has moved quickly to order a raft of changes to the country\u2019s school curriculum. The modifications cover subjects ranging from English and history to science and Islamic studies.<\/p>\n The move has been criticized by teachers and other Syrians who object not only to the nature of some of the changes but also to the fact that they were decided upon so quickly, with no transparency and no guidance from teachers and the general public.<\/p>\n Critics say that the changes, and the unilateral way in which they were ordered, are worrying signs of how the new Syrian government plans to govern a diverse country.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Some of the changes, which were detailed in nine pages released by the Education Ministry on social media last week, have been broadly welcomed, like removing glorification of the Assad regime from textbooks.<\/p>\n But some Syrians question why other changes were a priority, given the more pressing issues, like insecurity, sectarian tensions and an economic crisis, that still confront the country.<\/p>\n \u201cThe modifications should be restricted to only the things that involved the previous regime,\u201d Rose Maya, 45, a high school French teacher, said at a small protest against the changes outside the Education Ministry on Sunday. \u201cBut there is no need for all the other changes.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Ms. Maya was joined by about two dozen other people \u2014 among them teachers, students, doctors and artists \u2014 holding signs expressing various objections to the changes. Next to her was another teacher, Muayid Muflih, with a sign that read: \u201cPower belongs to the people, not over the people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mr. Muflih said that until recently he taught about nationalism, a subject that was widely seen as serving the agenda of the Assad regime. It has now been eliminated completely from the curriculum.<\/p>\n Ms. Maya, referring to Nazir Mohammad al-Qadri, the education minister, said that \u201cas an interim minister he shouldn\u2019t make changes.\u201d And she said there needed to be transparency regarding the committees the ministry said it formed to review textbooks and suggest the changes. \u201cThere should be teachers involved,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The ministry has defended the changes and pushed back against suggestions that the alterations were Islamist, or a nod to Salafism, a conservative branch of Sunni Islam to which many of the country\u2019s new leaders belong.<\/p>\n \u201cThe modifications were needed after the liberation of Syria,\u201d Mr. al-Qadri said in an interview on Sunday. \u201cThese modifications were not changes to the curriculum but modifications of some of the slogans and symbols that used to glorify the previous regime.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr. al-Qadri was part of the education ministry in Idlib, the province in northwest Syria run by the Islamist rebel group that now heads the interim government, Hayat Tahrir al-Sham.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Specialized committees involving both members of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham-led government in Idlib Province and members of the Assad-era education ministry reviewed the textbooks and suggested changes, he said.<\/p>\n Mutasem Syoufi, executive director of the Day After, a nonprofit group, said that the interim government was trying to impose its vision not just on the political system of Syria but also its public life. The Day After was founded in 2012 by members of the Syrian opposition to plan for a transitional phase in Syria after the eventual fall of the Assad regime.<\/p>\n \u201cThe changes are a clear reflection of a very narrow reading of Islam, and again it reminds us of the background of the group which is in charge of Syria today,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no inclusive viewpoint.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n The speed with which the curriculum changes were made suggests they had been prepared before the interim government took power, Mr. Syoufi said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Across Syria, even as people celebrate<\/a> the toppling of a brutal and autocratic regime, there is some trepidation<\/a> about the future of the country under a government headed by Islamist rebels.<\/p>\n Syria\u2019s de facto new leader, Ahmed al-Shara<\/a>, 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 have expressed fear that they have traded one authoritarian leader for another.<\/p>\n