Libyan children return to school

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Libyan children return to school

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After months of uprisings and war, around 1.2 mn Libyan children are returning to the schools.

08 January,2012 10:56 am

For decades, lessons based on Qaddafi’s teachings were mandatory and his sometimes bizarre ideas permeated everything from history lessons to Arabic textbooks.Educators are now scratching their heads over how to fill the gaps left by the expunging of the former dictator, the education minister said as more than 1.2 million children returned to schools Saturday.The subjects of political awareness and community studies have been cancelled, Minister of Education Suliman al-Sahli said.There are suggestions for substitute subjects and proposals are still under study, he saidThe history subject has been cancelled and replaced by a new one put together by experts in this area to give us real history.The start of the current school year, which should have been last September, has been postponed to January. The last school year overran its schedule by months, because schools were closed for so much of the nine-month civil war which ended Gaddafis 42-year rule. This school year will have to be shortened.