The ISIS school curriculum bans music, sports, and teaching evolution

(Image credit: Wall Street Journal)

last updated 8 January 2015

Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) isn't just a well-financed jihadist militia, it's also a real de facto Islamic State, fighting to expand into an even larger Islamic Caliphate. It has taken over the mundane tasks of providing services to its subjects, directing traffic, and meting out its own form of justice through a court system, among other civic responsibilities. As this animated video from The Wall Street Journal's Reem Makhoul explains, ISIS has its own school curriculum, too.

All schools in Raqqa and other ISIS-held cities must teach Islamic law, and students who refuse face punishment up to and including death. Females and males are split up, and girls and women have to wear full burqas, with only their eyes showing. Banned from schools are music, social studies, history, arts, sports, philosophy, psychology, and all mention of Syria or Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The video has more details of this side of ISIS we rarely see in the West. --Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.

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