Arabic not compulsory - Education Ministry clarifies

“The official recognition of Arabic, as part of the primary school curriculum, led to the establishment of English-Arabic or Islamic schools in the country some decades ago,” the statement said, adding that “hitherto, the teaching and learning of Arabic in these schools had been without any officially approved standardised curricula for all the schools.

NaCCA mandate The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), the statement said, therefore, developed a unitary and standardised official Arabic language curriculum as part of its mandate to regulate the teaching and learning of Arabic in those schools.

It clarified that the process to develop a standardised curriculum for the teaching and learning of Arabic predated the appointment of the sector minister, Haruna Iddrisu and that it began with the revision of the curriculum at the senior high school level about four years ago.