Syrians line the streets awaiting a parade by the new Syrian army marking the first anniversary of the ousting of the Bashar Assad regime in Damascus, Syria, Dec. 8, 2025. (AP Photo)
Syria’s Education Ministry has introduced sweeping changes to the national school curriculum, revising accounts of the Arab Revolt, Ottoman rule and national identity following the ouster of Bashar al-Assad in December 2024, according to a report by educational monitoring organization IMPACT-se.
The revised textbooks substantially rewrite the portrayal of the Ottoman period, including historical narratives that were critical of the Ottoman Empire once ruled the territories of present-day Türkiye and much of the Arab world, including today’s Syria and Iraq.
The movement launched by Sharif Hussein bin Ali against Ottoman rule in 1916, previously described in textbooks as the “Great Arab Revolt,” is now referred to as the “Revolt Movement of Hussein bin Ali.”
The stated objective of the revolt has also been revised. The phrase “liberating Arab lands from Ottoman occupation” has been replaced with “separating Arab lands from the Ottoman Empire.”
Similarly, a passage describing a joint British-French declaration has been amended, with the phrase “liberating peoples from Turkish oppression” replaced by “expelling the Ottomans from the region.”
The description of Ottoman governor Cemal Pasha as the “Butcher of the Arabs,” used in previous textbooks, has also been removed. The revised account instead notes that those executed under Cemal
Pasha were accused of collaborating with Britain and France against the state.
The new curriculum further explains that Britain cooperated with Sharif Hussein against the Ottoman Empire while planning to divide Ottoman territories with France, and that promises of independence made to Sharif Hussein were ultimately not fulfilled.
Under the former Baathist curriculum, students were described as needing to be prepared to “serve the homeland.”
The revised textbooks replace this expression with “serving the religion and the ummah,” referring to the wider Muslim community.
The phrase “Arab nationalism and pride in Arab identity” has been removed and replaced with “pride in Islamic civilization.”
Likewise, the stated goal of raising children to become individuals who “respect the law” has been changed to raising individuals who “respect Islamic Sharia law.”
