Written questions, answers and statements

Saudi Arabia: Textbooks

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Question for Foreign and Commonwealth Office

UIN 182713, tabled on 23 October 2018

Question

Jo Swinson
Liberal Democrat
East Dunbartonshire
Commons

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment his Department has made of the progress made by Saudi Arabian education authorities in removing from school textbooks (a) incitements to commit jihad, (b) passages describing Christians and Jews in a derogatory manner and (c) passages encouraging extremist ideologies likely to incite hatred of religious minorities within Saudi Arabia.

Answer

Alistair Burt
Conservative
North East Bedfordshire
Commons

Answered on

26 October 2018

​The British Government strongly supports the right to freedom of religion or belief, which is restricted in Saudi Arabia. Our views are well known.

A major component of Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 is educational reform. As the Saudi Minister of Education recently commented, this will take a number of years. During the visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the UK in 2018, we signed a Memorandum of Understanding that will enable a partnership in developing educational curricula.

We closely monitor freedom of religion or belief issues in Saudi Arabia.

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Foreign and Commonwealth Office
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