Once again, those in Saudi Arabia who have been longing to see physical education (PE) introduced into girls’ schools have received a blow. Physical education has been banned in the Kingdom’s girls’ schools for the last 40 years and it seems there will be no change — at least according to a Ministry of Education statement in the local press.
Last Friday, the deputy minister for Girls’ Affairs Dr. Khidir Al-Qurashi, told Al-Watan daily the rumors that PE would be introduced in girls’ schools next year was completely untrue. He said it was only a rumor which did not serve the public interest. He also said that the ministry had no intention of even studying the idea or considering it. The deputy minister also denied that the Shoura Consultative Council had voted on the matter last year and said the Shoura had only voted for the matter to be studied. The ministry, he added, was not bound by such votes within the Shoura.
What I found interesting in the deputy minister’s statement was that, according to him, the ministry is keen to upgrade and develop all matters concerning male and female students according to Islamic Shariah norms, customs and traditions. I really do not understand what he meant by the vague statement.
I am glad, however, that the deputy minister clarified that the ministry was not going to introduce PE to girls’ schools next year. There is nothing better than setting the record straight for so that rumors won’t spread. I am also glad that he mentioned that the ministry was not even considering the matter as one to be studied and looked into despite the vote by the Shoura Council. It seems quite clear that we Saudis should not have any hope or optimism about seeing PE in our girls’ schools in the future.
Setting the record straight for the public is one thing but denying that the Shoura voted last year simply to study the matter is something else altogether. It is interesting that both the deputy minister and the head of the Shoura deny the vote when it was widely reported that the Shoura in fact voted for PE to be introduced into girls’ schools. Many members of the Shoura spoke to me off the record and said that they did not want their names mentioned in the article I wrote on the voting last year. They explained how sensitive the topic was for Saudi society since it concerned traditions that are deeply rooted here — females participating in sports. Was the deputy minister who denied that the Shoura had voted to introduce PE merely trying to save himself from being attacked by the ultraconservatives?
Some months ago one of our sheikhs accused a female participant at the Third Forum for Dialogue — which discussed women’s rights — of being brainwashed by the West because she was wearing an abaya on her shoulders. Add that to the deputy minister’s statement and you wonder where reform is really going in Saudi Arabia. It’s sad, really. The deputy minister could have said that the ministry would begin implementing the issue after it had been approved by the Council of Ministers. Of course, even if the matter were studied, for some reason the voting did not go beyond the Shoura Council. It never found its way into the Council of Ministers for consideration. Strange indeed.
The saddest thing about all this is that Muslims all over the world look to us Saudis and to Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, as role models. Thus when they realize that we have banned PE in girls’ school for the past 40 years and continue to do so, linking it to our religion which gives equality to men and women and respect to both in the highest way, what are they to think? That PE is un-Islamic. This is the unfortunate message that we might be sending to the rest of the world.
