Cairo: Egyptian education authorities have removed from a school book the name and picture of Nobel Peace Prize winner Mohammad Al Baradei, a government critic.
A reference to Al Baradei among Egypt’s Nobel laureates was excised from the textbook taught to the fifth graders.
His name and photo appeared last year in the Arabic-language book along with those of late president Anwar Al Sadat, who was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1978; writer Naguib Mahfouz who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988; and scientist Ahmad Zeweil who won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1999.
But in this year’s edition of the book, Al Baradei is no longer there while the three other laureates are kept.
The omission has triggered controversy, bringing education authorities under criticism.
“I’ll tell my daughter that an Egyptian citizen named Mohammad Al Baradei won the Nobel Peace Prize, but ignorant people have removed his name,” dissident rights activist Jamal Eid wrote on Twitter. “Tell your children the truth!”
In August 2013, Al Baradei resigned from his post as vice president, protesting a deadly security crackdown on two camps by backers of deposed Islamist president Mohammad Mursi.
Shortly later, Al Baradei left Egypt and has since been living in Austria. He has frequently criticised the government of President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi.
In response to the furore, the Education Ministry denied on Tuesday that the removal was carried out on orders from the minister, Al Helali Al Sherbini.
“The minister has not given directives to make any cuts or additions to school curricula since he took the portfolio of the Education Ministry in September 2015,” the ministry said in a statement. “The removal happened when the former education minister Mohb Al Refai was in office,” it added without giving further details.
Private newspaper Al Youm Al Saba, citing an unnamed official at the ministry, said that the contentious excision was in response to a demand by parents.
“The Curriculum Centre of the Education Ministry had received requests from several parents and teachers to stop mentioning the name of Dr Mohammad Al Baradei in [the book] in order to avoid distracting school children’s attention and head off disagreement between teachers opposing and backing him,” the official said.
“The removal was made due to his hostile stances and inciting statements against Egypt particularly since the revolution of June 30 [2013]” the official added, referring to the day when street protests started in Egypt against Mursi, culminating in his toppling by the army three days later.
Al Baradei, a former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, was a key catalyst in the 2011 uprising that forced long-standing president Hosni Mubarak out of power.
Al Baradei has been the butt of frequent criticism in pro-government media since his departure from Egypt more than two years ago.
