In the United Arab Emirates, Artificial Intelligence Is Taught from Kindergarten
Unprecedented educational reform
It was the Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Sovereign of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rachid, who announced the decision on Sunday, May 4, 2025. In a statement relayed on X, he said that the government had validated “the final program to introduce artificial intelligence as a subject at all levels of public education”, from the start of the next school year. The objective is ambitious, to say the least: to prepare new generations for a world governed by technologies profoundly different from those of our own time. In any case, this is the Prime Minister's vision, as he points out that “our responsibility is to equip our children for a time unlike ours, with conditions different from ours”.
Basically, this program aims to give students a technical understanding of what AI is, while developing their ethical awareness of an increasingly omnipresent technology. What's more, unlike other countries where AI is mentioned in a casual way in certain subjects from secondary school onwards, the United Arab Emirates is choosing a far more ambitious path. AI will not only be used as a pedagogical tool by teachers, but taught as an integral discipline from the very first years of school. In concrete terms, from kindergarten onwards, pupils will be introduced to the basics of artificial intelligence in the same way as they learn about letters, numbers or the days of the week. The program, designed to be adapted to each level, will be based on seven main pedagogical axes: fundamental concepts, data and algorithms, use of software, awareness of ethics, concrete applications, design of innovative projects, and community involvement around AI-related policies.
Vision and strategy
As Education Minister Sarah Al-Amiri pointed out, this reform embodies “UAE government’s future-focused vision” to prepare future generations to “create and develop intelligent solutions”. This educational reform is an extension of a national strategy that uses artificial intelligence and technology as levers for economic diversification. Indeed, for over a decade, the Emirates have been gradually reducing their dependence on hydrocarbons by focusing on entrepreneurship and innovation, the challenges of which are largely linked to understanding and mastering AI.
Let's not forget, the United Arab Emirates was the first country in the world to create a Ministry of Artificial Intelligence in 2017. This initiative, perceived at the time as more symbolic than anything else, is now taking root in reality and forces us to recognize that the country has been visionary. What's more, as the latest proof of their commitment to AI, the Emirates have announced colossal investments of between 30 and 50 billion euros in France in 2025, notably for the construction of the largest AI campus in Europe, which will also feature a giant data center.
With this reform, the United Arab Emirates is sending out a strong and clear signal: training the citizens of tomorrow, in the world of tomorrow, starts at the earliest possible age. To achieve this, the country is not content to simply follow global technological developments, but intends to anticipate them, structure and finance them, and transform them into drivers of development and change. This strategy also reflects a truly pragmatic approach: not simply to familiarize schoolchildren with artificial intelligence, but to give them the tools to become its creators, developers and innovators.
Sources :
https://www.arabnews.com/node/2599592/middle-east
