Saudi Arabia Includes Chinese Language

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has implemented the Chinese language in the curriculum at all stages of education in Saudi schools and universities.

As part of Saudi crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s new vision for the education sector. The Ministry of Education included Mandarin (Chinese) from this academic year 2021-2022.

Source: https://dragonsteaching.com

The agreement was finalised during the Saudi crown prince’s visit to Beijing in February 2019, between the two countries to enhance bilateral relationship and cooperation.

Several initiatives have been launched with different organisations in the education and training sectors to introduce the language to the public. After Arabic, English serves as the second language and Chinese serves as an optional third language in the Kingdom.

It is reported that companies prefer to hire people who speak more than one language, so the University of Jeddah has made it mandatory for preparatory year students.

In Malaysia, we are still blinkered with race and religion. Pragmatic leaders see beyond, and implement realistic policies and strategies. Saudi kingdom has gone beyond our tahfiz and national schools. We have a great advantage with vernacular schools and teachers but are we open to new thinking? Have a partnership with vernacular schools to introduce a third language. This is optional. Language or learning cannot be forced upon someone. If you do, it will be with a huge grudge and no desire to really learn.

Those who complete an adequate understanding of conversational Mandarin or Tamil are given a certificate, which is useful in private/public sector employment. Just look at those Malay students who went to Chinese schools. They have at least two language skills – Bahasa Malaysia and Mandarin. Hopefully they may have some level of English as well. And with maths, they are employable readily.

We need to be open and welcome new ways of reaching consensus. Hopefully, the Minister has a more positive view of developments in the world.

Reference:

Saudi Arabia include Chinese language in its educational system, Sakina Fatima, www.siasat.com, 7 October 2021