UAE issues federal decree law on governance of national educational curriculum

The UAE Government has issued a Federal Decree Law on the Governance of the National Educational Curriculum, establishing for the first time a comprehensive legislative framework regulating the design, approval, implementation, and review of the national educational curriculum.

The Decree Law establishes an integrated governance system that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of relevant federal and local authorities, ensuring effective integration, coordination, transparency, accountability, and community participation in the development of education.

The Decree Law aims to regulate the approval of the components of the national educational curriculum in a manner that ensures consistency and stability, while preserving the flexibility required for its continuous updating in response to future developments and the evolving needs of society and the labour market. This enhances the quality of national curriculum content, strengthens the competitiveness of the education sector, and contributes to preparing generations capable of effective integration into society and the economy at both the local and international levels.

The provisions of the Decree Law apply to all public and private educational institutions implementing the national educational curriculum across all educational stages, from kindergarten to Grade Twelve. Its scope also extends to private schools that do not apply the national educational curriculum with respect to the teaching of approved compulsory subjects, ensuring unified national educational foundations and reinforcing shared identity and values.

The Decree Law stipulates that the National Education Charter of the UAE constitutes the supreme reference document defining the national objectives of education, graduate attributes, national identity, societal values, targeted competencies, and general educational principles, and guiding the design and development of the national educational curriculum.

The Decree Law defines the components of the national educational curriculum, which include national learning standards and outcomes, principles for curriculum design, teaching methods and methodologies, educational pathways, language of instruction, learning duration, compulsory and elective educational subjects, and the educational content of each subject. This ensures clarity of the academic and pedagogical framework and the sustainability of its quality.

The Decree Law establishes a clear framework for classifying changes to the national educational curriculum into four categories, with defined authorities and approval mechanisms for each. These include major, wide ranging changes that affect the philosophical or structural foundations of the national educational curriculum as a result of amendments to the National Education Charter. Such changes are approved by the Education, Human Resources, and Community Development Council and ratified by the Council of Ministers, and are subject to mandatory field piloting and comprehensive evaluation to ensure system readiness prior to nationwide implementation.

Partial changes of limited scope relate to specific 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 educational 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 educational curriculum, provided that such proposals are supported by reliable studies and analyses demonstrating alignment with national education objectives, labour market requirements, national identity, and societal values, in accordance with the mechanism adopted by the Ministry of Education for the submission, assessment, and review of proposals.

The Decree Law defines the principal responsibilities for the governance of the national educational curriculum. The Council of Ministers is responsible for approving the National Education Charter, the national educational curriculum, and major changes thereto. The Education, Human Resources, and Community Development Council is responsible for overarching strategic direction and ensuring alignment of the national educational curriculum with national policies.

The Ministry of Education is responsible for the preparation, authorship, development, and review of the national educational curriculum, as well as for providing educational resources, learning materials, assessment tools, teacher readiness mechanisms, and oversight of implementation.

Educational institutions are responsible for implementing the national educational 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 educational 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 periodic reports to the relevant authorities.

The Decree Law further obliges private schools that do not apply the national educational 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 stable and flexible national education system grounded in sound governance, responsive to global developments, supportive of comprehensive development, and focused on human capital as the cornerstone of the country’s future.

WAM