Muhammad cartoons in school textbooks?

Lawmakers in Denmark have brought forward a proposal to publish cartoons of the prophet Muhammad – the very same type of cartoons that sparked terrorists to attack the Charlie Hebdo weekly, in fact – in the nation's school textbooks.

The Washington Post reported that the country's opposition leaders with the Conservative People's Party and the Danish People's Party have joined forces to promote the idea.

"It would be natural for the cartoons to become part of the material that the teachers can choose to use," said Conservative People's Party spokeswoman Mai Mercado, to the local DR Nyheder publication.

The premise is to teach students about the attacks, and give teachers the autonomy to decide if they should use the cartoon images as part of the curriculum, the Washington Post said.

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But not all see the idea as valid.

Dannis Hornhave Jacobsen, president of the Danish Association of History and Social Studies Teachers, thinks teaching about the cartoons in a formal class setting "could end any real discussion about the nature of freedom of expression, because there are children in schools who believe the Muhammad cartoons are objectionable and the discussion will stop there," Fox News reported. And Claus Hjortdal of Denmark's Headmaster Association said showing the cartoons was tantamount to bullying.

"One can easily talk about it without showing the images," he said, BBC reported.

Charlie Hebdo, a satirical French weekly, was attacked by terrorists in 2011 and again in early 2015 after publishing images of Islam's prophet. In January, 12 staffers died in the attack.