KUWAIT CITY: A hardline Kuwaiti Islamist MP today threatened to call for the PM to face a grilling in parliament after the government made music classes compulsory in schools.

“We hold the PM responsible for this decision... We call for halting this, otherwise, we will use constitutional tools. This could lead to grilling the prime minister,” said Mohammad Hayef.

“We will not allow our schools to become centres for graduating dancers,” said Hayef, who belongs to a group of ultra-conservative Salafi Islamists who consider, among other things, that music is prohibited under Islam.

Music has always been part of the curriculum in Kuwaiti schools despite opposition from hardline Islamists but the education ministry decided to include music as part of students’ overall marks effective at the beginning of the school year in September. “What is required now is for the ministry to revert to the old system, otherwise, we will submit a draft bill to ban music from schools,” Hayef said. He said the education ministry’s decision was an attempt to Westernise Kuwaiti society. Liberal and independent lawmakers blasted Hayef’s move as a threat against democracy in the Gulf state.