Is Syria Islamising its schools? What the textbooks show

Supported by independent sources

In early January 2025 the Ministry of Education, then headed by Nazir al-Qadri, published lists of amendments covering every school grade. In Islamic-education books, “that a person gives his soul for his homeland” became “that a person gives his soul for the sake of God”, “governed by the law of justice” became “governed by God’s law”, and “the principle of human brotherhood” became “the principle of brotherhood in faith”. The unit on “the origin of life and evolution” was removed from science, and references to Zenobia, the Arameans and the Canaanites were removed from ancient history. ^{1 2}

AFP reported that the changes also reinterpreted a Quranic verse about those who have “gone astray” as referring to “Jews and Nasara” (Christians), and removed poetry about women and love. ² On 9 January 2025 Decision 104 abolished the subject of national education. ¹

Al-Qadri said the ministry had “only ordered the deletion of parts glorifying the defunct Assad regime” and corrected Quranic verses that had been “explained in the wrong way”, and that the curricula would “remain as is until specialized committees are formed to review and audit” them. ² In May 2025 Syrians for Truth and Justice (STJ) reported that no such committees had been announced, and called the reform “an ideological unilateral decision lacking legitimacy”, taken without consulting experts and extending to literary and philosophical content with no link to the former regime. ³

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In October 2025 Arabi21 reported that the new minister, Mohammed Abdul-Rahman Turko, had cut Islamic-education lessons from four to two a week and replaced the subject “The Holy Quran and its Etiquette” with music and the arts. Teachers and pupils protested in Idlib, residents demonstrated in Hama and outside the ministry in Damascus, and preachers campaigned against the decision online. In Hama the instruments of the national music institute were smashed; officials called it “an individual act”, and it was not known whether the attack was linked to the decision. The ministry did not publish an official clarification of the timetable. ⁴

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On 17 August 2026 the ministry announced a single curriculum for all governorates for 2026–2027, based on the previous year’s “Damascus curriculum”. ⁵ On 14 September Minister Turko told the People’s Assembly that images and symbols of the former regime had been removed from the last two editions of the textbooks and that 41 million books had been printed. ⁶

The journalist Mohammad al-Salloum then published side-by-side comparisons of old and new editions. The fact-checking platform Verify-Sy (Ta’akad) checked them against older digital editions and against the printed books distributed to pupils for 2026–2027, and confirmed that: ^{7 8}

• a drawing of a mother combing her daughter’s hair in the grade 3 Islamic-education book (p. 58 in 2014–2015) now shows her in a hijab (p. 56 in 2025–2026);
• a female doctor explaining vaccination in the grade 1 social-studies book was given a hijab between the 2021–2022 and 2025–2026 editions — while the same character appears without one on another page;
• the statue of the singer Ur-Nanshe (Urnina) from Mari and the statue of a tambourine player from Ugarit were removed from the grade 3 social-studies book, while pictures of a jar, a manuscript, gold earrings and the Ugarit alphabet were kept;
• the ancient Egyptian statue of a seated scribe was given clothing covering his torso in the grade 6 social-studies book;
• the grade 6 social-studies book, first issued in 2012–2013, was reissued without its lessons on local administration, political life, citizenship, the media and democratic participation; ⁷
• drawings of women were removed or given hijabs — in one case a jilbab — in some early-grade books and a grade 7 book. ^{7 8}