State schools to introduce 14 new textbooks

DUBAI // Pupils at state schools will see important changes in their curriculum next year with the introduction of new textbooks. Fourteen new books will be introduced in subjects ranging from art to anthropology. Some of the subjects, such as Grade 1 music and fine arts, have never been uniformly taught from textbooks in the city's state schools. The changes apply to all public schools and any private schools which follow the ministry curriculum.

The new textbooks will be for Grade 6 Arabic, Grade 7 science and social studies, Grades 7 and 9 maths, Grades 7-12 Islamic studies, Grade 11 history and geography, Grades 11 and 12 economy, Grade 12 English and psychology. Music and fine-arts texts will be introduced in Grade 1 for the first time; geology will be introduced in Grade 10 and anthropology texts will be introduced in Grade 11. "The new curriculum is totally different from what existed in the past," said Sheikha Khulood Sager Al Qassimi, director of the curriculum department at the Ministry of Education. She said the new texts were part of the ministry's plan to improve and modernise UAE schools.

"The new curriculum concentrates on thinking skills," Sheikha Khulood said. "It's more than just memorising content. With the old curriculum, the student was dependent totally on the teacher. Now the student can learn with the textbook and the teacher is only guiding him." @Email:[e-mail]