Abu Dhabi, 22nd Feb. 2009 (WAM) -- The National Curriculum Committee held its sixth meeting yesterday here under the chairmanship of His Excellency Dr. Hanif Hassan, UAE Minister of Education, to review the latest updates of the national curriculums of the Arabic language, Islamic Studies, Social Studies and National Education syllabus.
The meeting was attended by His Excellency Abdul Rahman Al Owais, Minister of Culture, Youth and Community Development, His Excellency Dr. Anwar Mohammad Gergash, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Her Excellency Najla Al Awar, Secretary General for the UAE Cabinet, Mr. Rashid Salem Lakhraibani Al Nuaimi, Director General, Ministry of Education, Mr. Youssif Al Shuriaani, Executive Director for Educational Affairs, Ministry of Education and Khulood Saqer Al Qassimi, Director of Curriculum Department in the Ministry. Following the meeting, Dr. Hassan assured that enhancing education reform, building new modern schools and developing new curriculums represent the demands of the UAEs development and progress. "We want our students to be talented and skilled and our teachers to be qualified. All our national programs and projects are set according to international standards and our national curriculums are the main priority of the ministry. The new advanced curriculums embody the values of our nation and, at the same time, assure the creativity and talent of students". The minister assured that the modern curriculums express the vision of the ministry and its strategy to achieve the goals of ''our wise leadership'' and maintain the civilization of the country and development of its human resources according to the needs of the labour market. He also referred to the support of His Highness Sheikh Khelifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to education as well as the continuous efforts of His Highness Sheikh Mohammad Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of Abu Dhabi Education Council as well as His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Deputy Chairman of Abu Dhabi Education Council. In addition, Khulood Al Qassimi, Director of Curriculum Department, Ministry of Education, emphasized that the meeting had discussed the national education syllabus and defined its subjects such as the human rights and security and environmental education and general standards and key performances of k-12 grades. The committee called the society to benefit from these curriculums and provide the ministry with any suggestions or recommendations that aim for achieving the ministrys goals. As for the Arabic language curriculum, she said the department had taken the opinion of the subjects teachers and made amendments in the chapters of literary knowledge and linguistic understandings. According to her, the new amendments include new information and data that concentrate on students reading, writing, speaking and grammatical skills to students from KG to grade 7 and grades 1-2 in the Madares Al Ghad Schools "MAG". A ministry official gave a presentation about the accomplishments of the Islamic studies curriculum and the changes and amendments that have been done to the textbooks of grades 1-12. The revised textbooks that will be printed out during summer were based on the recommendations of the supervisors and members of the society. Four sub-committees have been assigned to three educational stages i.e. primary, middle and secondary to meet with the teachers and students of the different education zones and at the same time record the remarks of the education field. A specialized US organization specialized in translating Islamic studies textbooks began its assignment by translating the books into English to be placed on the ministrys website to assist students benefit from these materials. The advanced syllabus will be available for all the students in the UAE in Arabic and English languages.Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2009.
