Riyadh, May 28: Conservative Muslim clerics have pounced on Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Education to nip in the bud any possible move to modify the strict separation of boys and girls from primary school.
The clerics reacted sharply after Education Minister Prince Faisal Bin Abdullah Al Saud visited an all-girls school two weeks ago while his female deputy went to an all-boys school.
Children attend primary school together in many Muslim countries, but in Saudi Arabia they have long been separated.
“The statements coming from the Ministry of Education on promoting the mixing of genders at schools or in other areas hurt our ears and are rejected by people with sense,” Mohammad Bin Safar Al Asmari, a cleric from the south of the country, said in a video message this week.
In the message, Asmari and other clerics also rejected recent challenges by women against the status quo, for example against bans on women voting and driving.
“There are those who are trying to drag this nation down into humiliation by pointing to the women issue. They act as if women in this country … live in a state of oppression,” said another cleric. “On the contrary, [they] live in honour.”
Earlier this week, female Saudi activist Manal Al Sharif was arrested for driving after posting a video of herself at the wheel of a car on YouTube and drawing the attention of rights groups around the world.
“Mothers can’t drive cars, so they can’t even take their kids to school,” she said, adding that women are at men’s mercy to run even the most basic of errands.
-Agencies