Islam, Africa poorly depicted in Korean textbooks: research

/Courtesy of Twitter

By Lee Han-soo

Korea’s elementary and middle-school textbooks negatively depict Africa and Islam, research reveals

Professor Seol Kyu-ju of Gyeongin National University of Education did the research at the National Human Rights Commission’s (NHRC) request.

Compared with the past, the textbooks have improved in explaining human rights and related organizations, discerning sexual equality and recognizing social minority groups.

But when it came to introducing Africa or Islam, the NHRC recommended the textbooks take a more neutral stand.

The textbooks depicted the subjects mostly with words linked to “poor,” “conflict,” “unstable” and “disputed,” it said. This was contrary to how they depicted Western nations as “rich,” “cultural,” “stable” and “advanced.”

The NHRC is opening a workshop on Thursday to discuss setting human rights standards when publishing school textbooks.