Clarion Project reports that a major Western publishing house has agreed to censor English-language textbooks for publication in a Middle Eastern dictatorship.
The country commissioned the publishing house to edit textbooks used to teach English to high school students in grades 6-12.
In addition to academic alterations to fit with the curriculum, the education department of the unnamed country gave publishers a lengthy list of demands for editors to bring the educational materials, in line with the state’s official ideology.
The list of demands includes:
- Changing mixed gender examples to single gender examples unless it is clear it’s between members of the same family.
- Removing all references to or images of religious buildings or symbols belonging to faiths other than Islam.
- Removing all instances of hand-holding except members of the same gender shaking hands or very small children.
- Removing all references to the Arab Spring or revolutions in general.
- Changing all references to holidays to Islamic holidays instead of non-Islamic ones.
- Remove all references to sex, magic, alcohol, cigarettes, homosexuality, drugs, gambling, card games, Israel, the supernatural, aliens, nightclubs, pork products or birthdays.