Cairo: Saudi education authorities have decided to introduce the Chinese language in middle schools as part of an expansion programme amid growing ties between Riyadh and Beijing.
Chinese will be taught for three classes per week in these schools during the three terms of the new academic year, due to start next week in the kingdom.
The teaching programme features activities via the government platform Madrasty, according to the Saudi news portal Al Marsd.
Last year, the second-grade students in public and private secondary schools in Saudi Arabia were introduced to the Chinese language under an enriching linguistic programme.
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It comprised educational shows and interactive lessons aimed to enhance the students’ ability to learn the Chinese language with the engagement of facilitators encouraging group thinking and self-learning.
Some 175 Chinese language teachers will begin teaching in primary and middle schools in Saudi Arabia in mid-August becoming the first batch of Mandarin teachers to serve in the kingdom, China Daily reported.
The programme is part of an agreement made between the two countries last year to enhance cooperation in Chinese language education.
Plans to expand
The teachers completed a pre-service training at Tianjin Normal University that ran from July 29 to last Friday, it added.
Saudi Ministry of Education and the Centre for Language Education and Cooperation under China’s Ministry of Education co-organised the training with the university.
In 2020, Saudi education authorities started teaching Chinese in eight high schools as part of efforts to boost links between the two countries.
Saudi Arabia said it plans to expand teaching the language after Chinese President Xi Jinping made an official visit in late 2022 to the kingdom where he met King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Crown Prince Mohammed.
Xi said in Riyadh that his country would offer thousands of opportunities to teach the Chinese language in the Gulf countries.
In January 2023, Saudi Arabia’s advisory Shoura Council approved a draft accord with Beijing to teach Chinese in the kingdom.
