Syria’s post-Assad school curriculum glorifies nationalism, demonizes Jews — study

Syria’s school curriculum has undergone significant changes since the fall of the Assad regime in 2024, promoting an Islamist national identity, glorifying jihad and martyrdom, and portraying Jews through antisemitic stereotypes, according to a report by the educational monitoring organization IMPACT-se.

The study analyzed 130 textbooks for grades 1–12 used in the 2025–2026 school year and retained for 2026–2027, comparing them with textbooks published under Assad between 2011 and 2023.

The report reveals that the new curriculum represents a significant ideological transformation since President Ahmed al-Sharaa took power after his Islamist forces ousted Bashar al-Assad’s Ba’athist regime in December 2024. The new approach replaces Assad’s pan-Arab nationalist narrative with an Islamist worldview that glorifies jihad and martyrdom.

In one of many examples, a Grade 3 Islamic Studies textbook tells parents that the aim of education is no longer preparing children to participate in “serving the homeland,” but preparing them to participate in “serving the faith and the ummah,” a reference to Muslims as a whole.

Long-standing political loyalties have been upended, with content associated with Assad, his family and their regime being “systematically removed,” the report found.

Iran and its Lebanese terror proxy Hezbollah, formerly presented positively as Assad allies and supporters of resistance to Israel, are now condemned for their role in supporting the former regime. Hezbollah is accused of sectarianism and massacres against Syrians, while previous praise for Iran and the 1979 Islamic Revolution has been removed.

Jews are repeatedly portrayed through antisemitic stereotypes of betrayal, hostility, and dishonesty, while Syrian Jewish history, which stretched thousands of years, is entirely absent. In one Grade 6 lesson, students are explicitly taught that “treason and backstabbing are among the traits of the Jews.” Elsewhere, Jews are associated with breaking promises and agreements, reinforcing a recurring portrayal of Jewish dishonesty and disloyalty.

Israel’s right to exist and Jewish national identity are rejected, with Palestinian violence justified or glorified as resistance and martyrdom. Maps continue to label Israel as “Palestine” or “Occupied Palestine,” and Israeli military conduct in 1948, when the state won its independence, are compared to “Nazi crimes against the Jews.”

Syria continues to claim ownership of the Golan Heights, which Israel captured in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed, but the territory is increasingly presented as part of a wider struggle over “occupied Muslim lands,” rather than primarily as a Syrian national cause.

Women’s roles are diminished in the new textbooks, which depict them in stricter Islamic dress. References to gender equality under Syrian law have been removed from textbooks, and many images of women have been edited to cover their hair with hijabs. One lesson now advocates for the stricter niqab facial covering.

Meanwhile, the curriculum removes scientific theory such as evolution and excludes minorities such as Kurds, Turkmen and Druze. Turkey, an ally of Sharaa’s, and its predecessor, the Ottoman Empire, receive more favorable treatment than in previous textbooks.

“The textbooks show a very concerning shift from one damaging ideological framework to another,” says IMPACT-se CEO Marcus Sheff. “This report should raise serious concerns among international leaders who hope to see Syria emerge as a partner in building a peaceful and prosperous Middle East.”

The study is part of IMPACT-se’s research program, examining primary and secondary school textbooks in different countries across multiple subjects and measuring them against UNESCO-based standards for peace and tolerance in education.