A new education report has exemplified a lack of progress in the teaching of Arabic in private schools in Dubai.
Young Arabs feel speaking English lends them an air of sophistication, and this in turn means they are neglecting their mother tongue. They feel English will consolidate their global identity and make them more amenable to consuming Western culture, which beams into the living-rooms on a daily basis by the influx of television, social media, the Internet and other means of disseminating information.
Reports say that students as young as 10 or 11 prefer reading texts in English, rather than Arabic. The rate of learning is slow and only native Arabic speakers in schools converse in Arabic. Rest of the students, be they in India, America or the U.K. school system are not strongly disposed towards the language. They find it oudated, outmoded and a waste of time.
English is not just a language, it is a metaphor for a way of life. It is fast becoming an identity embedded within Dubai's way of life. It stands for a global lifestyle, consumerism, and Western spirit and ethos of existence.
English is fast becoming a means to an end - the end of acquiring a better standard of living. It is a way of saying "I have arrived" and it is a way of linking with the world at Dubai's fingertips. It is all about being in the middle of something which fast-tracks to a better lifestyle, global exposure, lifestyle currency, and material gain.
“Pupils are not using Arabic and thus they don’t see the value of it in their lives. Arabic is not the lingua franca in Dubai and they (pupils) can manage without it,” said Ms Nandkeolyar of Delhi Private School in Dubai. She amongst many educationalists feel that Arabic is the language which should not be forgotten and must be given its due importance. In an effort to combat the declining popularity of Arabic, Delhi Private School is also now employing the use of cartoons, films, radio shows, events and competitions where students are obliged to speak in Arabic. An integrated learning approach is also adopted by inter-connecting Arabic with different subjects.
Teachers function in a paradigm of partnership, fully understanding that to have a great whole they need to take responsibility for their half. They want to instill the love for Arabic within children, in both elite schools and not-so-elite schools. They want to plug holes in the language gaps of children who return for emergency tutorials after they graduate and they want to do so because they believe these kids should take pride in their national language. The counter movement is not just about realizing the importance of Arabic, it is about showing that it is a language of history, culture, symbolism and most importantly, value.
Facebook and WhatsApp are both extremely popular among the Dubai youth, who like youth around the world, believe in gaining mastery over these social tools as a legitimate and endorsable way of connecting with the world. Both these platforms use English as the langauge within which they function and this can get in the way of their loyalty towards Arabic.
But now Arabic has been subjected to a creeping byproduct of globalisation, where English has displaced the subject. This is because a paradigm shift has occured in the senses and sensibilities of the Dubai youth, who would prefer jobs and careers in the Western world as well as financial advancement over just 'belonging' to any identity-based notion of the self.
In response, the UAE Government has rolled out the Bil Arabi initiative on World Arabic Language Day, which the UN marks every December 18.
The initiative seeks to preserve the Arabic language and promote its use across social media channels.
It will include special courses taught in public schools with an open invitation for private school students to attend. The initiative is a partnership between the state and the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Knowledge Foundation.
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