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60 UAE schools will be studying Chinese in the 2019 - 2020 academic year
23 July 2019
| Last updated on 24 July 2019
The Ministry of Education has recruited 150 Chinese language teachers to teach the new addition to the school curriculum
The UAE Ministry of Education (MOE) announced that the Chinese language will be taught at 60 schools across the emirates during the 2019 - 2020 academic year. The language will be taught to students between grade 7 and grade 12 at select schools following a rising interest among Emirati residents to improve their understanding of Chinese culture and its language.
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According to the ministry, a series of 18 books entitled "Across The Silk Route" will be introduced into the classrooms to prepare pupils for the new course. Students will be using the new learning content to build and develop their reading, listening, speaking, and writing skills with the goal of establishing fluency in Chinese communication skills.
MOE has partnered with Chinese publication company, Nishan Press, to create more teaching material to help UAE students further enhance their understanding of Chinese culture through other subjects such as literature, art, mathematics, history, and geography.
Hussain Al Hammadi, the Minister of Education, approved and assigned the introduction of the courses into schools during Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed visit to Beijing.
Photo credit: Ministry of Education.
Pictured: Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan receiving an honorary professorship in recognition of his support for innovational technology and science at China's top university, Tsinghua University.
Mandatory for at least 3 years
Chinese language lessons in UAE schools will be implemented and are mandatory for the next three academic years.
There are also plans to open a Chinese Centre at the ministry offices to enable Chinese education specialists to evaluate and enhance the progress of the new course.
According to the MOE report, "continuous support from both the UAE and China is of vital importance to the sustainable development of Chinese learning and teaching at schools."
In 2017, MOE introduced a trial run of Chinese language courses in 11 schools for year 10 pupils.
In 2018, MOE announced that they plan to have students from grade 9 - 12 across 100 schools to begin learning the language at school.
