Copying the IS's burning of the Jordanian pilot, a lesson entitled 'Birds in Danger', on page 74 of the Arabic language book for students in third grade tells the story of birds who locked up some hawks and burned them alive.
"Birds shut down the tents and set fire to hawks in accordance to the plan," read the lesson.
After the plan was complete, the birds sang the national anthem.
Parenting expert Zaky al-Beheiry commented on the lesson saying that the curriculum incited violence.
"Education in Egypt is suffering from a very big crisis, as the curriculum needs a comprehensive change, or rather, better blow it up completely," Beheiry added.
The birds lesson urges students to commit violence and brutal acts when they grow up, and to accept those acts and see them as normal despite their lack of humanity, Beheiry mentioned.
The lesson in the Education Ministry's book included a paragraph saying, "At this time, all the birds were ready to implement the plan, and the king of the birds and his ministers came out of the tent. The birds closed the tent and set fire to it, and the hawks' cries became loud, 'Save us, save us!'"
The birds then thanked the king and burst into song.
An Education Ministry official responded to the criticism directed toward the Education Ministry over the Arabic language curriculum for the third grade saying the material had nothing to do with current political developments and the whole story was invented by the author.
The director of the curriculum development center affiliated to the Education Ministry, Thanaa Gomaa, said in a statement on Monday that the book was copied before the start of the current academic year 2014/2015 and thus had no link to political developments.
Education Ministry directorates have been instructed since the beginning of the second term in February to cancel the birds and hawks lesson, in addition to two other lessons. The three lessons will be completely omitted from the 2015/2016 books, Gomaa added.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
