Minister Says KSA Needs Years to Change School Textbooks
Saudi Arabia needs three more years to change its school textbooks which have been criticized by the U.S. for religious intolerance, the ultra-conservative kingdom's education minister said Sunday.
"Changing the curriculum is difficult and needs three years" before it can be achieved, Prince Faisal bin Abdullah told participants and reporters at the annual Global Competitiveness Forum in Riyadh.
"We are not satisfied with what we've got, but we have big hopes... we need time as this is not an easy duty," said the minister, who is known for his moderate views.
The ministry is working on "developing curricula that would absorb new visions and promote citizenship, tolerance, and openness towards others... as well as promoting the participation of women based on equality (with men) in their abilities," he said.
Saudi Arabia came under criticism by the U.S. State Department following the September 2011 attacks over the lack of religious freedom in its school textbooks, and was accused of promoting intolerance.
An independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom charged in a report in 2007, following a fact-finding mission to the kingdom, that there was little transparency in the textbook revision process and "intolerant and inflammatory elements" remained in them.
It asked the U.S. government to act against the Islamic kingdom's "exportation of extremist ideology and intolerance in education material."
Source: Agence France Presse
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