Al-Watan: Al-Ateyah: No foreign pressures behind the Gulf intention to develop curricula

The secretary general of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has denied what was rumored on that there are sides which try to impose on the GCC member states certain changes in their curricula. He stressed that no attention should be paid to such statements.

In a statement to the Saudi daily al-Watan issued yesterday, al-Ateyah said that the GCC member states are convinced on the need of developing and unifying curricula in the framework of valid values and traditions within an Islamic context made imperative by the spirit of the age rather than being imposed by certain sides and nationalities or other philosophical impacts.

He added "we have realized that what we should give our current generations is completely different from what we had given to our past generations, due to the rapid growth of the cycle of knowledge."

The GCC ministers of education and learning agreed during their meeting in the Saudi city of al-Khubar to draw programs for developing the teaching of the Arabic language and this project to be given priority in implementation in order to improve students level in the Arabic language. The ministers also gave their directives to carry out programs on executing and renovating mathematics and science subjects.