13 March 2004	Saturday	21 Muharram 1425

Riyadh, March 12: With pressure on Saudi Arabia mounting on various accounts, the kingdom is going to reevaluate its entire curricula, so as to get rid of any material that could be perceived as anti-Christian or anti-Jew.

The Saudi Institute, a non-governmental organization which operates from its Washington head office to defend human rights in the kingdom, said that a governmental committee had been formed to consider the existence of possible hostile material about Christians and Jews in the curricula.

According to reports, Minister of Islamic Affairs Saleh Bin Abdul al-Sheikh in a communication to the committee, has asked it to reevaluate the books and curricula which could be perceived as distorting the image of Christians and Jews.

The Saudi educational system has been under spotlight ever since the 9/11 attacks in New York, for which 15 Saudis out of the 19 suspected suicide bombers were blamed.

Western analysts have been objecting that Saudi curricula are deeply religious and promote hatred and antagonism, especially towards Jews and Christians. Many in the West thus claim that it was the hatred generated out of the Saudi educational system that was ideologically responsible for the 9/11 havoc. So there has been a continuous uproar in the west to change the Saudi educational curricula.

Authorities in Saudi Arabia say that revision and updating of curricula is an ongoing process, and as and when required, the system will definitely undergo changes. However, they maintain that their educational system does not cause extremism and hatred towards any religion or its followers. They say it simply puts stress on the tenets of their own religion.