Syria’s new Ministry of Education has reduced Islamic studies hours while adding music and art, in a surprising reform in the new curriculum.
The Ministry of Education, which was created under the new government that came to power after a Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led offensive toppled the Bashar al-Assad regime last December, has announced curriculum reforms for the 2025–2026 academic year.
The measures stated in the 49-page document seen by 5Pillars include cutting the amount of classroom time devoted to Islamic studies by half and introducing music and art to schoolchildren’s schedules. For the first time since the Assad era, students in Idlib will now sit through lessons in instruments, singing and drawing.
For Idlib itself, the change is historic. Since the outbreak of war, lessons focused on religious and technical subjects, with the arts excluded entirely. Now the very movement that made its name by emphasising Islamic identity is introducing creative classes unseen for more than a decade.
The announcement has surprised many who recall HTS’s past identity as a revolutionary group that insisted on Sharia as the central pillar of society. Parents who were told Islamic studies would form the bedrock of their children’s education now face a curriculum that decreases that focus.
Many see the reduction as an erosion of Islamic values and a soft attempt to secularise classrooms under the guise of reform. Others question whether the government even has the resources to deliver these programmes, given the lack of trained teachers and proper materials on these subjects.
Officials, however, have presented the reforms as modernisation. They argue that music and art will help children recover from years of war and trauma, encouraging creative expression and critical thinking.
Subscribe to our newsletter and stay updated on the latest news and updates from around the Muslim world!
Yet to many observers, the shift appears less like a genuine educational vision and more like an effort by the current government to distance themselves from their past, and to project a new inclusive and progressive political identity.
By balancing reduced Islamic education with subjects once excluded entirely, the new Syrian authorities have signalled a surprising turn, one that is underscored by the undeniable challenges it faces in its bid for international legitimacy and domestic unity.
