The Tanzanian government has banned a popular series of children’s books from schools in the conservative East African country. Image: amazon
Tanzania BANS popular children’s book from schools
The Tanzanian government has banned a popular series of children’s books from schools in the conservative East African country.
The Tanzanian government has banned a popular series of children’s books from schools in the conservative East African country. Image: amazon
On Monday, Tanzania’s Education Minister Adolf Mkenda announced an immediate ban on “The Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books, saying the government will monitor libraries in both public and private schools.
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The minister also listed other banned books, including “Sex Education: A Guide to Life.”
VIOLATION OF TANZANIAN CULTURE NORMS
The Tanzanian government has banned the popular series of children’s books from schools, saying they violate local cultural norms. It is not clear what content in the series of illustrated books offended the authorities.
“We are banning these books from schools and other educational institutions because they contradict Tanzanian cultural norms and morals,” Mkenda told reporters in the political capital Dodoma.
Mkenda said they were on a list of “unacceptable books”. He also asked the public to report similar books as part of an ongoing investigation.
“The books also violate the good practices of bringing up our children,”
he said, calling on parents to inspect their children’s bags to make sure they did not have the books.
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PRESIDENT ASKED STUDENTS TO BE CAREFUL WITH ‘IMPORTED CULTURES’
Last week, President Samia Suluhu Hassan met with university student leaders and asked them to be careful with some “imported cultures,” as reported by EWN.
“If you are a Tanzanian, live in accordance with our cultures,” Hassan said. This follows after a senior member of the ruling CCM party, Frank Haule, said that same-sex activity was ‘out of control’ in universities.
The names given for two books appeared to be pages from “An ABC of Equality” which included the terms transgender and LGBTQIA.
“That practice is contrary to our cultures and is prohibited by religious books,” Haule said.
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According to the wimpykid.com website, the first book in the “Wimpy Kid” series was published in 2007. Since then 275 million copies have been sold worldwide in 69 languages.
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