Shake-up to eliminate extremism in Saudi school curriculum
Education experts have welcomed new plans to introduce critical thinking into Saudi school curriculums, encouraging tolerance, and eliminating intellectual extremism.
The aim is to “solidify the values of tolerance and human understanding in student circles … targeting the student’s personality, thought and behavior,” Education Minister Hamad bin Mohammed Al-Asheikh said.
Encouraging young people to think for themselves could not come soon enough, Abdulrahman Al-Haidari, an English lecturer at a university in Makkah, told Arab News. Otherwise, students were limited to “simple root learning activities in which they merely mimic and reproduce the phrases presented to them in their textbooks,” he said.
“Our needs today impose new challenges upon us to form new ways of thinking … of keeping a solid identity truthful to our heritage, and at the same time allowing a much larger margin to tolerate and accept other world views and beliefs.
“Unless we provide our youth with solid critical thinking capacities, we simply throw them in harm’s way by making them vulnerable and susceptible to evil political entities disguised with a fake Islamist facade.”
Sara Al-Rifai, an English lecturer at a university in Jeddah, also welcomed the changes. “By introducing critical thinking and philosophy to the curriculum, students become in charge of their own learning experience,” she told Arab News. “They learn how to think outside the box, ask the right questions, be more creative, solve problems, and make the right decisions.”
Preparations are under way for the introduction of classes in critical thinking and philosophy in Saudi schools, Education Minister Hamad Al-Asheikh said. Saudi educators and students welcomed the news.
The minister gave the update to the plans, first announced in December 2018, on Monday during an event organized by King Abdul Aziz Center for National Dialogue to mark International Day for Tolerance. The introduction of the subjects aims to encourage more tolerant attitudes toward people with different values and beliefs, and to eliminate intellectual extremism.
“The Ministry of Education seeks to solidify the values of tolerance and human understanding in student circles, which act as a pillar to strengthen tolerance in society through multiple practices targeting the student’s personality, thought and behavior,” said Al-Asheikh. Lecturer Abdulrahman Al-Haidari, who has been teaching English at Umm Al-Qura University in Makkah for 18 years, said he has always found it important to ask his students challenging questions that encourage them to think for themselves.
“In my view, a successful teacher is one who promotes among students the capacity to convey their own desired meanings,” he said. Educators who fail to do this limit their students “to simple root-learning activities in which they merely mimic and reproduce the same phrases presented to them in their textbooks,” he added. The biggest challenge he faces as a teacher is encouraging students to come up with their own thoughts and understanding of ideas, including opinions that differ from his.
“Due to our country’s great heritage and location as the custodian of Islam and the Two Holy Mosques, our current educational system produces learners who are strongly attached to the Islamic faith,” he said. “Without providing our youth with solid critical thinking capacities, we simply throw them in harm’s way by making them vulnerable and susceptible to evil political entities disguised with a fake Islamist facade.”
Sara Al-Rifai, an English lecturer at a university in Jeddah, said she strongly supports the introduction of the new subjects.
“They learn how to think outside the box, ask the right questions, be more creative, solve problems and make the right decisions.”