The UAE Government has issued a Federal Decree Law on the Governance of the National Educational Curriculum, creating a framework for the design, approval, implementation, and review of the national education curriculum.
The Decree Law establishes a governance system that defines the roles and responsibilities of federal and local authorities to ensure integration, coordination, transparency, accountability, and community participation in education development.
The legislation aims to regulate the approval of national curriculum components in a manner that ensures consistency and stability whilst preserving flexibility for updates in response to future developments and the needs of society and the labour market. This enhances curriculum quality, strengthens the education sector’s competitiveness, and contributes to preparing generations for integration into society and the economy at local and international levels.
UAE government establishes comprehensive framework for National Education Curriculum
The provisions apply to all public and private institutions implementing the national curriculum across all stages from kindergarten to Grade Twelve.
The scope extends to private schools that do not apply the national curriculum with respect to teaching approved compulsory subjects, ensuring national foundations and reinforcing identity and values.
The Decree Law stipulates that the National Education Charter of the UAE constitutes the reference document defining the objectives of education, graduate attributes, national identity, values, competencies, and principles, and guiding the design and development of the national curriculum.
The Decree Law defines the components of the national curriculum, which include national learning standards and outcomes, principles for curriculum design, teaching methods and methodologies, pathways, language of instruction, learning duration, compulsory and elective subjects, and the content of each subject.
This ensures clarity of the academic and pedagogical framework and the sustainability of its quality.
Framework for curriculum changes
The Decree Law establishes a framework for classifying changes to the national curriculum into four categories with defined authorities and approval mechanisms for each.
Major changes that affect the philosophical or structural foundations of the national curriculum as a result of amendments to the National Education Charter are approved by the Education, Human Resources, and Community Development Council and ratified by the Council of Ministers. Such changes are subject to field piloting and evaluation to ensure system readiness prior to implementation.
Partial changes of limited scope relate to components within subjects, resulting from amendments to learning outcomes or the inclusion or removal of topics or study units, and are approved by the Education, Human Resources, and Community Development Council.
Technical or formal changes aimed at improving clarity of formulation, linguistic accuracy, visual presentation, or content formatting are approved by the Ministry of Education.
Exceptional and urgent changes are those introduced in response to a national or global emergency with a direct impact on students or the educational process, and are approved by the Education, Human Resources, and Community Development Council, with a report submitted to the Council of Ministers if the change is wide ranging.
The Decree Law permits any government, private, or non-profit entity, including entities operating in free zones, to submit proposals for the development or amendment of the national curriculum, provided that proposals are supported by studies and analyses demonstrating alignment with national education objectives, labour market requirements, national identity, and values, in accordance with the mechanism adopted by the Ministry of Education for the submission, assessment, and review of proposals.
Federal Law mandates compulsory subjects for all UAE private schools
The Decree Law defines the responsibilities for the governance of the national curriculum.
The Council of Ministers is responsible for approving the National Education Charter, the national curriculum, and major changes thereto.
The Education, Human Resources, and Community Development Council is responsible for strategic direction and ensuring alignment of the national curriculum with national policies.
The Ministry of Education is responsible for the preparation, authorship, development, and review of the national curriculum, as well as for providing resources, learning materials, assessment tools, teacher readiness mechanisms, and oversight of implementation.
Educational institutions are responsible for implementing the national curriculum, participating in pilot programmes, collecting feedback, and submitting observations to the Ministry.
Local education authorities are responsible for monitoring the implementation of the national curriculum and compulsory subjects in private schools within their jurisdictions and reporting outcomes to the Ministry.
The National Centre for Education Quality is responsible for evaluating implementation quality, measuring impact, and submitting reports to the authorities.
The Decree Law obliges private schools that do not apply the national curriculum to teach the approved compulsory subjects, subject to oversight by the Ministry of Education and local education authorities, each within its respective mandate, to ensure compliance with approved content and academic and professional qualification requirements for teachers.
This Federal Decree Law reinforces the UAE’s vision of building a national education system grounded in governance, responsive to developments, supportive of development, and focused on human capital as the cornerstone of the country’s future.
