Egypt’s education ministry has deleted reference to the disputed Red Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir, from the Grade 6’s geography curriculum for the year 2016-17, a ministry official revealed.
The controversy over the two islands was first sparked last April when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi decided to sign a maritime border demarcation agreement with Saudi Arabia, handing over the islands to Saudi control. In reaction to Sisi’s decision, hundreds took to the country’s streets in rare protests, many of whom were rounded up by security forces.
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While Sisi defended his decision to transfer sovereignty over the two islands to Saudi Arabia, a number of lawyers filed a lawsuit against the agreement and eventually won their case at Egypt’s High Administrative Court.
The sixth grade’s curriculum for the previous year (2015-16) included text and a map of Egypt’s islands, including Tiran and Sanafir. The two controversial islands are not mentioned in the new year’s sixth grade curriculum.