Curriculum v. Ideology: the War in the Classroom
▻https://www.newsdeeply.com/syria/articles/2016/05/18/curriculum-v-ideology-the-war-in-the-classroom
As for Idlib’s rural areas, too remote to be part of the agreement with the Syrian regime, Jaish al-Fatah eliminated music, art and agriculture classes, placing a major emphasis on Islamic education and the theology of monotheism, or Tawheed, a key Islamic belief in the oneness of God, taken from the Saudi curriculum. Residents in the area often refer to the Islamist curriculum as the “plus one curriculum,” because of its additional religious component.
As Jaish al-Fatah tightened its grip across the province, it assigned school supervisors to preach Islamic values to students and to enforce Islamic dress codes. Some teachers, who asked to remain anonymous, said the Islamic coalition appointed unqualified teachers to teach the Quran and Sharia (or Islamic) law, firing teachers who had graduated from university with a degree in Islamic jurisprudence, accusing them of being Sufis (followers of a mystical strain of Sunni Islam) and of teaching the SNC’s “infidel” curriculum.
These practices have severely weakened education curricula across the province. Many teachers have left their posts, and now some schools rely on volunteers and university students to lead classes. According to Ahmado at the SNC’s Ministry of Education, there is a shortage of nearly 11,000 teachers across Idlib. This steadily widening gap has been filled by jihadist-oriented programs, he said.