(Pakistan Point News - 01st Jul, 2020) ABU DHABI, 1st July 2020 (WAM) - The Ministry of Education signed with Mohammed V University Abu Dhabi an agreement of understanding and cooperation aiming at developing curricula and teaching methods for the Arabic language.
The two parties believe in the importance of cooperation to develop curricula and methods of teaching the Arabic language. Such an initiative would benefit Arabic users, open horizons for its learners and improve its teaching methods.
The signing of the agreement was carried out by Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education and Dr. Hamdan Muslim Al Mazroui, Chairman of the University board of Trustees.
The agreement aspires - among its goals – to serve the Arabic language by focusing on teaching methods and developing them according to the requirements of the times. This would develop Arabic language curricula and teaching methods and prepare qualified personnel in the Arabic language and its sciences, in implementation of the state goals and strategies. This cooperation includes giving priority to appointing qualified graduates from Mohammed V University Abu Dhabi as teachers in public and private schools. The agreement also seeks the contribution to the prepare scientific and academic policies for the Arabic Language and all related subjects, curricula and resources, in accordance with the best practices.
The two parties will work to establish an Arabic language academy as a second step, to include everything related to the Arabic language.
Al Hammadi emphasized that the vision of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the State, may God protect him, and his exception of care in the Arabic language. The most recent of which was His Highness’s decree to establish the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language, which is "responsible of developing its own plans and strategies for the advancement of the Arabic language and to propose the necessary legislation to serve the Arabic language and enhance its use". All these initiatives reflects the leadership’s belief in the role of this language in promoting national and Arab identity, and in supporting its presence at all levels.
In his comments on the objectives and importance of the agreement, he stated that: "The United Arab Emirates, with all its components and authorities, is keen to preserve the Arabic language and its true enhancement at all levels. This is done in accordance with the directives of the state leadership that seek preserving the Arabic language and enhancing its presence at the global level."
He pointed out that the Academy for the Arabic Language to be established will contribute in cooperation with the relevant authorities, especially the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language, in developing Arabic language education programs, which enhances opportunities for expanding partnerships to enhance the university's role in serving and preserving the Arabic language.
He mentioned that the Arabic Language Academy in at Mohammed V University Abu Dhabi will be accredited as a national academic reference authority in the field of evaluating and developing Arabic language education programs. This will enhance opportunities to expand partnerships with relevant authorities to strengthen the university's role in serving and preserving the Arabic language.
He stated that the agreement aspires to lay out a new framework that encompasses a common and complementary educational vision, and fruitful cooperation that back up the efforts of the Ministry of Education in enhancing the status of the Arabic language and developing its teaching programs. It also seeks establishing solid scientific grounds for contemporary linguistic research that fuses Arabic and modern sciences such as computer science and linguistics. Such cooperation would also harness the potential of these sciences to serve Arabic and its speakers everywhere.
He affirmed that building teaching programs that integrate Arabic with contemporary life and people's linguistic needs, in an accelerated time in which languages are racing to lead in encompassing influential knowledge and areas of productive life, is something we seek to and endeavor to achieve.
He added: Today, we stand on an equal basis of responsibility towards our dear students and our language, in an atmosphere of complementarity and sharing. We aspire together to lay a cornerstone for creating and adopting the best programs, developing curricula and teaching methods for the Arabic language and its related sciences. This also entails laying out the methodology for that and then proceeding to set up solid programs in postgraduate studies, and in the field of teaching Arabic as a second language. At this point, this should feed all this scientific research, so that the Emirates will become a global enlightening center for the Arabic language, and a destination for researchers and scholars.
He advanced that the Ministry of Education is interested in this approach aimed at founding thought and developing the skills of our students in the Arabic language. This is directive of the wise leadership, and it constitutes a central and determined national approach. We, in turn, are working on consolidating the learning skills that revolve mainly around mastering reading, speaking and writing the Arabic language. This is a goal that cannot be achieved except by considering the reality of Arabic in a fashion free from imitation and profiling restrictions. Such a vision should be armed with modern scientific knowledge, and open to the modern ideas that can contribute to developing the teaching and learning of Arabic. This vision will only be achieved under such complementarity; this cooperation that we aspire to lead and enable our children to reproduce knowledge, focus on sustainable development, and the concepts of leadership, innovation, citizenship and belonging.
He declared that the signing of the bilateral agreement between the Ministry of Education and Mohammed V University Abu Dhabi is an exceptional launch for cooperation in one of the most pivotal knowledge fields. Language, its sciences and programs constitute a central pillar of education development, knowledge and progress in science. With this vision, we pave the way for the support of the Arabic language and its programs, and the meeting of its speakers’ knowledge needs.
For his part, Dr. Hamdan Musallam Al Mazroui, Chairman of the University’s Board of Trustees, highlighted the importance of the agreement in developing the curricula and methods of teaching the Arabic language.
He stated that Mohammed V University Abu Dhabi is keen to consolidate the position of the Arabic language on the international level, in application of the wise leadership’s vision of rendering the university a cultural beacon to spread the Arabic language and introduce the world to the Arab and Islamic civilization and its most outstanding achievements.
He clarified that the university will soon sign a tripartite agreement with the Ministry of Education and the Abu Dhabi Center for the Arabic Language with the aim of strengthening the efforts to strengthen the presence of the Arabic language and its use in the society.
He added that the university is keen on hiring the best competencies, training competent personnel in the Arabic language, and designing high-quality academic programs to endorse the presence of the Arabic language at the national and international level, as it is a central tool to enhance national identity and the pot that encompasses Arab and Islamic thought.
He also stressed that the establishment of the Arabic Language Academy will endorse the university's role as a prestigious scientific center in the field of Islamic studies, Arabic language and human sciences. It also enables the university to attain the UAE’s wise leadership in disseminating the aspects of Arab culture in a civilized and humane way that spreads the virtues of tolerance, love, respect for human rights, upholding the values of moderation and openness to the various cultures and peoples of the world.
