[Al Arabiya Latest] Russia's Ministry of Education has added Arabic language and culture to next year's school curriculum in an unprecedented move welcomed by families who said they look forward to introducing their children to Arab culture. What's the Arabic for "Mohammad lived, lives, will live"?
The move was a response to requests by Arabs in Russia
| I wouldn't have thought there'd be that many Arabs in Russia. It gets awfully cold there. |
It's not like Mat' Rossiya has any culture to displace...
"The majority of our students are either Russian or from other ethnicities that are not Arab"School headmistress |
Commissars didn't work out for Sasha, so maybe the holy men will do the trick.
His colleague Vadim said his admiration for Arab culture encouraged him to learn the language. "I want to be able to speak to the Arab people when I get the chance to visit the Arab world," he told Al Arabiya.
That sound you just heard is Dutch Kate turning over in her grave.
According to the new government resolution Arabic classes will be introduced as early as elementary school, said Sieda Golinian, headmistress of a school in southern Moscow. "The majority of our students are either Russian or from other ethnicities that are not Arab," she told Al Arabiya. "They want to learn Arabic to work as translators or in other financial, political and cultural fields."
I have visions of Chapaev rising from his grave and chasing Putin and Medvedev out of Moscow with a horsewhip. Perhaps the ghost of Suvarov will slam the gate behind them when their riddance is good.
In addition to offering job opportunities, including Arabic in Russian schools will also be of great help to mixed Russian-Arab families, said Selim al-Ali, member of the Council for Arab Expatriates. "Teaching Arabic in schools will solve many problems faced by children of mixed marriages as they will be able to get in touch with the culture that constitutes half their heritages," he told Al Arabiya.
| My father hired a Hebrew tutor for us until we were old enough for Hebrew school, where we learnt Jewish history, literature, religion, and Israeli folk dancing. Had they wanted us to learn German, my mother would have handled it. Are Arab speakers in Russia so numerous that they must be accommodated by the state? Actually, I suspect there will in the end be only Headmistress Golinian's Arabic school in southern Moscow for the Al Arabiya reporter to fuss over. |