Preserving Arabic is key, and it should start in the classroom

Pupils during Arabic based classes at the new Arabic Institute at American Community School Abu Dhabi. Victor Besa / The National

Language isn’t just a medium of communication. It is also integral to our identities – “the pedigree of nations”, as the 18th-century English writer Samuel Johnson described it. This is in line with much of the thinking in the UAE, which has witnessed much emphasis on the need to promote Arabic-language use. The UAE’s Ministry of Education recently announced a nationwide push to preserve Arabic and encourage its wider use.

When the new academic year begins next week, it will introduce Arabic tests starting from the first grade in government schools. The results of these tests will provide the basis for whether or not the ministry decides to enhance the curriculum.

Other measures include a mandate for private schools to teach at least 40 minutes of Arabic lessons every day, with a plan to increase their duration the following academic year. New criteria have also been introduced for hiring teachers at government schools that will measure how well they know Emirati culture and society.

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As Minister of Education Sarah Al Amiri said on Tuesday, the focus is on “refining students’ abilities and skills, national identity and an increased emphasis on language”.

The context for these measures appears to be the justifiably growing disquiet among experts over the rising prominence of English at Arabic's expense as the preferred language of communication for young people in many Middle Eastern countries.

There is, of course, little doubting the pride of place Arabic enjoys in the world today, and its place as the language of the Holy Quran. It is spoken by more than 400 million people in 22 countries, and it is one of the UN’s six official languages. By some estimates, at least 50 languages feature words derived from Arabic.

While Arabic is a language that is more than 2,000 years old and will continue to be actively used, we are living in an epoch that is defined by ever greater levels of globalisation, migration, cosmopolitanism, urbanisation and internet penetration. As the Sudanese author Leila Aboulela wrote in these pages, “if English is the language of school and mall, the enthusiasm among parents to promote Arabic language skills will wane”.

Arabic isn’t the only language that is competing for mind space with English among youngsters today. This trend has taken root in other parts of Asia and Africa, too. The English-speaking societies of Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales have also seen a considerable decline in their native tongues.

But the status of English – as the global language, and one that vastly improves employment and career growth prospects – is also beyond doubt. Policymakers in the UAE understand this innately. They know that sensible policy can ensure learning additional languages doesn’t have to come at a cost of ignoring one’s native tongue. This is especially given that fluency in more than one language tends to boost cognitive ability, academic performance and employability. As the eighth-century emperor Charlemagne said, “To have a second language is to have a second soul.”

Writing in these pages on the subject of preserving Arabic, the Emirati writer and researcher Sultan Al Qassemi once asked whether Arabic speakers can globalise and modernise without losing their language.

Judging by this week’s announcement – which includes added emphasis on learning Arabic as on subjects of the future like artificial intelligence – it is clear that UAE policymakers intend to do just that.