News from Civsy, based on human monitoring, generative AI tools and retrieval-augumented real time data searchThe August 2025 school renaming controversy in Syria exposed how fiercely contested cultural memory has become in the country’s post Assad landscape. At the heart of the debate stood the decision to remove the name of the late playwright and intellectual Saadallah Wannous from a school in Damascus, a move that ignited public outrage and highlighted the tension between efforts to erase regime symbols and the need to protect shared cultural heritage.[jinhaagency]
Saadallah Wannous as a national symbol
Saadallah Wannous, born in 1941 near Tartous, is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in modern Arabic theatre, known for his sharp critique of authoritarianism and his exploration of power, defeat, and the possibility of democratic renewal. His plays have long been read and performed across the Arab world, and his stature far exceeds the narrow confines of any single regime or political faction. When the Damascus Directorate of Education requested on 19 August 2025 to change the names of more than 60 schools as part of a campaign to purge the symbols of the fallen Assad regime, the inclusion of a school named after Wannous was perceived as a profound misrecognition of his role as a national cultural reference.[facebook]
Public backlash and partial reversal
The decision triggered a wave of criticism on social media after Wannous’ widow, Fayza Shawish, publicly condemned the move, insisting that the Minister of Education might have the right to remove regime symbols, but not to erase a national figure who did not belong to the Assad family and deserved to be honored, not cancelled. Her statement resonated widely with artists, intellectuals, and ordinary citizens who saw the targeting of Wannous as an attack on a shared cultural legacy rather than a neutral administrative correction. In response to the escalation, the Minister of Culture, Mohammed Yassin Saleh, announced that he had contacted the Minister of Education, Mohammed Abdulrahman Turko, who confirmed that the name of the Saadallah Wannous school would remain unchanged, signalling a rare retreat under public pressure.[jinhaagency]
Aleppo, religious naming, and the struggle over memory
While the Wannous school kept its name, a parallel decision in Aleppo showed that the struggle over symbols was far from resolved. An administrative order issued by the Aleppo Directorate of Education on 21 September 2025 mandated the renaming of 128 schools, replacing names associated with prominent poets, writers, and scholars such as Nizar Qabbani, Sami al Kayyali, Ibrahim Hilmi al Ghouri, and Aisha al Dabbagh with new names that were predominantly religious. Authorities justified the measure as serving the public interest, but critics argued that it stripped the education sector of its historical neutrality and advanced an ideological project that sought to impose a new moral and religious order on public space.[syriahr]
The controversy around these decisions reveals an emerging pattern in which the battle over school names becomes a proxy for deeper conflicts about identity, sect, and the ownership of Syria’s cultural narrative. For defenders of artistic freedom, the attempt to subsume figures like Wannous under the label of regime symbols, while simultaneously elevating religious names, signals a dangerous narrowing of the symbolic field at a time when Syria most needs inclusive references that can bridge its fractured society.[963media]
In Syria, even school nameplates have become a frontline in the struggle over identity and memory.
In August 2025, Damascus authorities moved to remove the name of playwright Saadallah Wannous from a public school as part of a campaign to erase symbols of the Assad era. The decision triggered a powerful backlash, led by his widow and amplified by artists, intellectuals, and citizens, and the ministry was forced into a rare public retreat.
Yet a parallel order in Aleppo on 21 September 2025 quietly renamed 128 schools, replacing the names of major poets, writers, and the first female member of parliament with predominantly religious names. Officials framed this as serving the “public interest”, but many see it as part of a broader ideological project that narrows the symbolic space of education and sidelines secular cultural references.
This episode shows how transitional authorities can weaponise symbols, and how cultural figures risk being recast as regime artefacts even when their work challenged authoritarianism. For those working on artistic freedom and cultural rights, school naming battles are not cosmetic disputes, but indicators of who gets to define Syria’s future narrative
