Narrative
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Project narrative
According to Hanban News, on July 22, 2019, Ma Jianfei, Secretary of the Party Committee of the Confucius Institute Headquarters (Hanban), and Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, UAE Minister of Education, exchanged the MoU to Introduce the Chinese Language in UAE Primary and Secondary Education System. The signing of the MoU made UAE the first Arabic-speaking country to integrate Chinese language into its national education system. According to the MoU, both sides would further establish in-depth cooperation in Chinese language teaching. Both sides would work together to select Chinese teachers to teach in the primary and secondary schools in the UAE, designate Chinese experts, compile the syllabus for Chinese language teaching and a series of textbooks, develop tests for Chinese language proficiency, and establish Chinese language learning centres at public schools. Hanban had assigned 33 teachers to 15 primary or secondary schools in the UAE and sent Chinese language teaching consultants to the UAE Ministry of Education. More than 100 teachers were expected to be recruited in 2019 based on UAE’s requirements. According to a recruitment website published in 2021, East China Normal University signed an MoU with the Center for Language Education and Cooperation (previously known as Hanban) in November 2019 to form a team of Chinese language teaching consultants for the UAE Ministry of Education.