BEIRUT:
A ministerial committee said Tuesday that it plans to approve a draft unified
history curriculum for grades one to nine during its next meeting, the National
News Agency reported.
Following
a Tuesday meeting, during which the committee studied the curriculum, the
committee’s head Minister of State Nicholas Fattoush thanked the previous
committee that submitted the draft curriculum, and said the present committee’s
ministers had introduced several amendments.
“The
committee will work on approving the curriculum in its next meeting which was
postponed until Jan. 2,” Fattoush said, adding “when we agree on the final
draft, the process of writing [the history textbook] begins.”
The
establishment of a unified history curriculum for Lebanon has been
controversial, despite the fact that it was one of the items agreed in the Taif
Accord that helped to end the country’s Civil War. In an effort to avoid
divisions and controversies stretching back to the French Mandate period, many
schools either avoid teaching history altogether or teach international history
topics such as the French Revolution.
The
National Education Strategy, an outcome of the World Bank Education Development
Program for Lebanon, received ministerial approval in April 2010. This was
followed by the submission of a draft curriculum for grades one to nine.
The
current committee was assigned by the Ministry of Education’s Center for
Educational Research and Development to study the draft curriculum which was
written by a group of historians. It met at Education Minister Hasan Diab’s
office and included Culture Minister Gaby Layyoun, and Ministers of State
Mohammad Fneish, and Ali Qanso.
Diab
said that as soon as a unified history textbook is written for grades one to
nine, the committee will move on to discuss a unified history curriculum for
high schools.
“Nothing
is set in stone when it comes to curriculums and textbooks, and nothing
prevents the introduction of amendments to the history textbook in the future
after it is produced,” Diab said, adding that education inspectors will monitor
teachers’ performance after the book is published.
“It
is not right that the subject of history is controversial between schools,”
Fattoush said, adding that “we seek to provide a unified curriculum to a
unified and undivided Lebanon.”
Health Minister Ali Hasan
Khalil, Justice Minister Shakib Qortbawi, Information Minister Walid Daouk,
Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud, and Sports and Youth Minister Faisal Karami were
unable to attend.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Local-News/2011/Dec-21/157493-ministerial-committee-plans-to-approve-draft-unified-history-curriculum.ashx#axzz1k6wYgero
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