Saudis revamp school curriculum to combat Muslim Brotherhood

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Saudi Arabia is seeking to purge its school curriculum of any influence of the Muslim Brotherhood and dismiss employees who sympathize with the banned group, the education minister says.

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 says 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 sympathies with the group,” he adds.

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.

Many members of Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood — who advocate toppling rulers deemed unjust — sought refuge in Saudi Arabia after being persecuted in the 1960s by then Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser.

The Islamists were widely employed in the education and public sectors, putting aside their proselytism and submitting to Saudi Arabia’s official Wahhabi ideology that requires obedience to the ruler.

— AFP