Saudis reviewing school curricula and books to combat ‘extremist ideologies’

by WorldTribune Staff, March 21, 2018

Saudi Arabia is removing all traces of the Muslim Brotherhood from its school curricula and will fire any education personnel who sympathize with the group, the kingdom’s education minister said.

Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman

The move is part of the education ministry’s plan to “combat extremist ideologies by reviewing school curricula and books to ensure they do not reflect the banned Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda,” Saudi Minister of Education Ahmed al-Isa said in a statement issued on March 20.

The plan, which is in step with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s pledge to promote a more moderate form of Islam, would “ban such books from schools and universities and remove those who sympathize with the group or its ideology from their posts,” al-Isa said.

Included among the steps already taken by the crown prince are limiting the role of the religious morality police, permitting public concerts, opening movie theaters and announcing plans to allow women to drive.

The crown prince told CBS in an interview earlier this month that schools in Saudi Arabia have been “invaded” by elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is a designated terrorist organization in the kingdom.

Muslim Brotherhood members who fled Egypt in the 1960s were widely employed in Saudi’s education sector.

The Ministry of Education announced in 2016 that it planned to make 2,000 government schools “independent,” allowing them autonomy in administrative and financial matters.


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