UAE, Japan Highlight Importance Of Moral Education

DUBAI, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News / WAM - 24th Mar, 2019) A delegation from the UAE Ministry of Education recently visited Tokyo to have more insights into how moral education should be taught in the UAE school curriculum.

The visit, organised by Japan International Cooperation Centre, JICE, saw 13 UAE delegates meeting with key Japanese educational policy makers and teachers and visited a number of schools including Nakano Higashi junior high school and Tokyo Gakugei Oizumi elementary school.

Several seminars and meetings were organised – including a lecture on the history of moral education in Japan and the training programmes for teachers by Professor Shigeo Nagata, a moral education expert – where delegates exchanged ideas on how to improve teachers’ skills and to develop appropriate evaluation systems in the field of moral education. Other interactive opportunities included a question and answer session and lunch with pupils in the international class.

Shigeto Aoki, General Manager of JICE Abu Dhabi Office, said, "Japan and the UAE both share high moral codes, and it would be an honour if this visit could provide valuable insights for the UAE educational team based on Japan’s experience and expertise in this field.

We hope that both countries can improve the quality of education together through such programmes."

UAE delegates exchanged ideas and discussed further cooperation with the Japan Ministry of Education, Culture, sports, Science, and Technology.

Attendees included Fouzia Al Awadhi, Curriculum Specialist at the Ministry of Education Dubai, who hoped that the trip will serve as a stepping stone to more collaborations. "I would like to invite more moral education specialists to the UAE to provide the best teacher training programmes for the ongoing development of quality classes," she said. "It would be good to meet publishers of moral education textbooks to learn more about student behaviour and problematic situations."

In turn, Zuwainah Al Blooshi, a teacher at Al Jood School – Cycle 1, said it would be useful to have "more supplementary textbooks and visual aids for moral education". "We should encourage more student participation, discussions and arrange extracurricular activities."

Under the ‘Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Initiative’, the UAE and Japan have forged close education and cultural links.