Saudi Arabia revamps school curriculum to combat Muslim Brotherhood

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia is seeking to purge its school curriculum of any influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and dismiss employees who sympathise with the group, the education minister said.

The government will “fight extremist ideologies by reviewing school curricula and books to ensure they are free of the banned Muslim Brotherhood’s agenda”, Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Issa said in a statement Tuesday.

It also seeks to “ban books attributed to the Muslim Brotherhood from all schools and universities and remove all those who sympathise with the group”, he added.

The statement comes after Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman told CBS television in an interview Sunday that elements of the Muslim Brotherhood, designated as a “terror group” by the kingdom, had infiltrated Saudi schools.

Human Rights Watch said last September that the kingdom’s religious studies curriculum stokes intolerance, with “hateful and incendiary language” towards religious minorities.