JEDDAH: Saud Arabia’s education minister has sacked an undersecretary in the ministry after the discovery of a photo in school text books showing the late King Faisal at the United Nations with the “Star Wars” character “Yoda” superimposed next to him.
Minister of Education Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Issa announced the termination on Tuesday of Mohammed bin Attia Al-Harthi, undersecretary for educational curricula and programs, along with the team of supervisors that reviewed and approved textbooks in the government agency.
Despite the teams of staff tasked with checking educational material, the spoof photo went unnoticed. It was only spotted in the text books by social studies students during a lesson on the United Nations,
The historic photo showing the late King Faisal signing the UN charter in 1945 has become iconic, so the addition of the little green “Jedi master” should have been easily spotted before the book went to print.
Al-Essa has assigned the printing and reviewing of school books to the Tatweer Company for Educational Services. A committee has also been formed headed by Deputy Minister of Education Abdulrahman bin Mohammed Al-Asimi.
Other members of the committee will include the undersecretary of planning and information, the secretary-general of education departments, the CEO of Tatweer, and general aupervisor of human resources.
The committee will be in charge of the restructuring of the Agency for Educational Curriculum and Programs.
Meanwhile Rashid bin Ghayyadh Al-Ghayyad has been appointed as undersecretary of educational curricula and programs.
There has been much controversy over mistakes in Saudi textbooks. The photo with the former king and “Yoda” – one of the most prominent heroes of the Star Wars series – went viral on Twitter, sparking a wave of sarcastic comments, as well as anger.
Saudi ministry of education sacks undersecretary over viral King Faisal, Yoda photo
Saudi ministry of education sacks undersecretary over viral King Faisal, Yoda photo
