RIYADH, 23 May 2003 — A Saudi scholar says Saudi history textbooks are biased and lack any global perspective.
In a paper presented on Wednesday during a conference on developing curricula held at King Saud University, Professor Reima Sado Al-Jarf recommended reviewing and restructuring Saudi history books and adding global perspectives to them.
The paper looked at global content in history textbooks for grades four to 12, specifically at what level international content is introduced and the percentage of international topics taught.
It found that 68.5 percent of the themes were Islamic, 30 percent focused on Saudi history, and only 1.5 percent of topics in the nine history textbooks were global.
“There is an urgent need to develop a global perspective in the minds of Saudi students by adding global issues to their history books,” said Al-Jarf, who teaches at the College of Languages and Translation, King Saud University.
She said global history was important to create global awareness among students and make them understand the world “as different people and nations interacting with one another.”
“History books should teach them to live in interaction with the world and not to live in isolation.
“These books should also enlighten them with information on various political, economic and social aspects of all the regions of the world, and not only the Arab and the Muslim worlds,” she said.
She added that students should know of problems and challenges that go beyond the borders of countries and understand the differences between their own history and that of other nations and cultures and realize the links that exist between their homeland and other countries.
Scientific analysis of the contents of all the nine Saudi history books also reveals that these books rely heavily on memorization and do not develop independent and critical thinking skills among students.
The study also finds that all these books lack objectivity especially when approaching subjects such as communism, Orientalism, evangelism and Arab nationalism. “Historical events and facts should be written up objectively without biased conclusions,” Al-Jarf said.
In a study presented in a separate session on the global dimension in Singaporean secondary social studies textbooks, she found that Singaporean textbooks develop a global perspective through a theme-based approach and a selection of a variety of current global issues in well-designed textbooks that develop independent and critical thinking skills and participation goals.
The paper asked Saudi curriculum designers at the Ministry of Education to construct their history books according to the model approach adopted in Singapore.
