Schools warned to ensure appropriate textbook contents

The Ministry of Education and Youth yesterday issued a circular regarding censoring of the curricula and textbooks of private schools operating in the UAE.

The ministry urged the private schools to comply with the ministry's censorship rules included in the circular regarding their curricula.

According to the circular, private schools have to send their textbooks to the ministry before the beginning of the new academic year as well as prior to getting them mass printed. Before submitting the books, the school should add all the additional attachments which have been made to them.

Before the distribution of the text-books to pupils, the schools should submit an undertaking that the contents of the books have been cleared by the ministry and are free of violations. The circular further said that private schools should make sure that none of the books contradict Islamic values and local social traditions of the UAE.

After the books undergo the ministerial checks, they are placed in one of three categories – books which have been sanctioned as their contents do not contradict Islamic values and UAE policy; books which have not been cleared as they include some facts that need to be amended (for example, a book with pictures of alcoholic drinks or pigs or any other indecent pictures); and books which have been totally banned as they clearly contradict Islamic values and lack decent standards, or carry offences against Arabs, Muslims, or speak against the policy of the country, or carry false historical facts that go along with the Western way of thinking and culture, or regarding the Arab-Israel disputes by using the world Israel instead of Palestine in a map or in the written content.

The circular also mentioned that among the prohibited subjects are the Nazi movement, the Holocaust or any Zionist claims.

The circular listed 26 prohibited books which are: You and the World of History; The Wheel of Svrya by J. Gavin; The New WindMill Book of Classic Short Stories by Mike Halmin and others; World History "Continuity and Change" by Diane Hart; Contrast and Connection by Colin Shephard; Societies in Change by Colin Shephard, The Ancient World 2; On the Threshold of History; Think Through History – Medieval Minds by Jamie Byron and others; Ancient Greece by Jane Mason and Sallie Purkis; Animal Farm by George Orwell; Men and God by Rex Warner; Genesis The King James Bible; History for Class VII and History for Class VIII by Manjestha Bose; The Heinman English Programme 3 by John Seely and David Kitchen; Harry Potter the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling; Literature Reader by CBSE English language Teaching Project Team; A Town like Alice by N. Shute; People of the Deserts by David Lambert; Element of Literature Second Course by Robert E. Probst and others; Elementary Mathematics -6 and 4 by Isidro D. Carino; Read XL> (8,B)+CD and High Frequency Readers by Various; Brother Sam by Collier and Collier; and Glencoe Literature Course 3 GR 8.

Meanwhile, the ministry has set the exam timings and holidays for the Asian private schools as follows: the new academic year starts from April 6, 2002, while the summer vacation starts from June 22, 2002. Schools reopen on August 31, 2002.

The mid-year vacation starts from December 21, 2002, and school reopens on January 4 , 2003. The results documents must be handed to the ministry from March 24, 2003.

The academic new year of 2003-2004 starts from April 5, 2003, the exams of the second term starts from April 12, 2003, and the date for handing over the results will be April 28, 2003.

The Asian private schools have to comply with these dates for holidays.