Saudi Arabia cracking down on Brotherhood presence in schools

Sara Wahid

The Saudi Ministry of Education has taken a decision to sack schoolteachers with inappropriate ideological beliefs, in a move believed to be aiming at purging the Saudi society of the control of the Muslim Brotherhood.

In a statement on May 15, Saudi Minister of Education Hamad bin Mohamed al-Sheikh said he had given the heads of the different educational directorates the necessary mandate to sack schoolteachers and school workers with inappropriate ideologies.

These sacked workers, he added, would be given administrative jobs until Saudi authorities take a final decision in the whole issue.

The minister’s decree does not deprive schoolteachers affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood from employment opportunities. Nonetheless, the same decision seeks to keep those teachers away from the classrooms, which gives them the chance to control the Saudi society.

Other countries are taking similar moves, including Sudan and the United Arab Emirates, within a comprehensive plan to crack down on the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology inside educational institutions.

Powerful plan

Islamist affairs specialist Hesham al-Najjar dwelt on the timing of the Saudi move.

He said Saudi Arabia had taken a series of measures in the past years with the aim of eradicating the Muslim Brotherhood ideology in the Saudi society.

This has been particularly clear in the cultural field, al-Najjar told The Reference.

He said the presence of a large number of Muslim Brotherhood figures within Saudi educational institutions contributes to spreading the dangerous ideology of the Islamist movement across the Saudi society.

Getting to the roots

In March 2018, the Saudi Ministry of Education sacked a large number of Muslim Brotherhood figures from primary and middle schools.

Saudi authorities also sacked a number of university professors affiliated with the Brotherhood, within a larger plan for eradicating the ideology of the group which was designated a terrorist movement by the Saudi government.