The Lagos State Government has restated its commitment to the training and retraining of Arabic Language Teachers to prepare Secondary School Students ahead of an evolving multilinguistic global work environment.
This was disclosed by the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education, Mr Abayomi Abolaji at the commencement of the second edition of a workshop organised by the government to train Arabic Language Teachers in Secondary Schools at the Multilingual International Resource Centre, Maryland, Ikeja.
Abolaji stated that Governor Babjide Sanwo-Olu’s Administration has demonstrated an unparalleled passion for qualitative education in the State with the numerous investments in the education sector, challenging the participants at the workshop to acquire the much need knowledge to appropriately teach their students Arabic Language.
He said, “Teaching of languages is dynamic; the Arabic language should not be limited to religious purposes alone. As teachers, you must improve your knowledge to match the ongoing advances by promoting the Arabic Language as it is done with English, French, Chinese and Dutch. It is important to reciprocate the Governor’s gestures by producing outstanding students in the next WASCE”.
In a similar vein, Mrs. Taiwo Haastrup, the Director of the Multilingual International Resource Centre noted that speaking two or three languages is an important asset in the world, and as such the need for the teaching of Arabic Language cannot be overemphasised.
Her words, “Arabic Language is the fifth largest spoken language in the world; our objective is to upscale the capacity of teachers through effective methodologies, making it attractive to students to increase enrollment in WAEC and NECO examinations”.
In their contributions, Mrs. Esther Adegbamigbe, Director, Curriculum Services Department and the Chairman, National Association of Teachers of Arabic and Islamic Studies, Mr. Jeleel Bakare-Adedokun, noted that teaching the subject is not a conversion issue but they should make the classes as interactive as possible.
