Some Sign of Change in Text Books in Saudi Arabia

 The recent IMPACT-se report examined the textbooks of the 2023-24 academic school year in Saudi Arabia to identify curricular changes. It pays particular attention to content highlighted in IMPACT-se’s study of the Saudi curriculum from previous years. The analysis includes a comprehensive review of 371 textbooks from the Saudi Arabian national curriculum, published between 2019 and 2024.

This allows for an evaluation of both the latest curriculum developments and the evolution of educational content over the past five years. The study focuses on subjects of the Humanities, namely Arabic language, Islamic and Social Studies, Life and Family Skills, Critical Thinking, Geography, History, and Literature. The contents of the textbooks are analyzed according to UNESCO-based standards of peace and tolerance.

Negative portrayals of infidels and polytheists have been toned down and decreased in number, as well as the depictions of various practices of Shi’a and Sufism to be heretical. In continuing with trends highlighted in previous IMPACT-se reports, all problematic examples promoting jihad and martyrdom have been removed or altered. Considerable improvements in regards to gender have been made, though textbooks maintain a traditional approach to gender roles in society and at home. Significant amounts of homophobic content have been removed. However, cross-dressing is still prohibited. The curriculum reveals Saudi Arabia’s dedication to the Palestinian cause. Portrayals of Israel and Zionism have progressed further. Students no longer learn content which defined Zionism as a “racist” European movement that aims to expel Palestinians, or that Zionism’s “fundamental goal” is to expand its borders and take over Arab lands, oil wells and Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem. Nonetheless, Israel is still not recognized on maps, but in some instances the name ‘Palestine’ which featured across the entirety of Israeli territory, has been systematically removed. The Holocaust is absent from the curriculum, and Israel is still referred to as “the Israeli occupation” or “Israeli occupiers” in the context of the 1948 War. Several problematic examples still appear in some textbooks.