02/01/2021 Saudi Arabia (International Christian Concern) – School textbooks in Saudi Arabia have undergone significant updates and changes, according to a report completed by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se). These changes include the removal of passages promoting hatred of religions besides Islam and women’s subservience to men.
Saudi Arabia is notorious for its textbooks that encourage violence and radical rhetoric. The changes made to the school textbooks make an effort to tone down or remove these passages and present more moderate content. While significant and required updates were made, the new textbook editions fall short of acceptance of all religions and tolerance towards Christianity. Christians and other non-Muslims are still labeled as infidels throughout.
These school textbooks are presented and understood to be from the mouth of the government to the ears of the students. Textbooks can either help moderate radical ideology or it can promote it, so it is crucial for these latest changes to only be one step in the revision process and not the final edition.
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