UAE: Sharjah Ruler urges review of ministry's decision to merge Arabic language with other lessons

The Sharjah Ruler has urged the UAE’s Ministry of Education to reconsider the decision to merge the Arabic language subject with Islamic and social studies.

His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, said the decision will affect students as the Arabic language is something that will be “inherited by generations to come”.

The move will affect the students “psychologically, as it weakens their language”, he said.

Sheikh Dr Sultan was responding to concerns raised by a female citizen on a radio programme called Direct Line. The citizen had called for Arabic to have its own textbook and not merge it with other subjects.

The Sharjah Ruler said he hoped more people would raise the issue. "We were surprised by the decision of the Ministry of Education to merge the Arabic language curriculum with Islamic education and social studies and urge the ministry to reconsider it. This is not permissible.”

He said the ministry usually responds positively to suggestions. “We care about the Arabic language even in foreign schools. For example, the Victoria School (in Sharjah) has Arabic as a basic subject despite the school following a foreign curriculum.”

He highlighted that the Emirate has experts developing the Arabic subject in schools so that future generations can inherit the language.

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