Iraq’s Ministry of Education and French embassy collaborate on language education

BAGHDAD, September 20 — Officials from Iraq’s Ministry of Education and the French Embassy met on Wednesday to form specialized committees to monitor curricula and oblige specific schools to teach the French language, while maintaining it as an option in schools for the academically gifted, in order to provide them with a sufficient number of specialized staff.

The Ministry stated in a press release that Hussein Sabri Al-Lami, the Ministry’s Undersecretary for Technical Affairs, emphasized the importance of strengthening linguistic and cultural cooperation with France and fostering the study and learning of living global languages.

The meeting took place during his meeting with a delegation from the French Embassy led by Mr. Pascal Ross, Head of the Cultural Cooperation Department, and Ms. Christine Courgeau, Educational and Linguistic Cooperation Attaché. The meeting was also attended by Dr. Riyadh Al-Omari, Director General of Curricula, and Dr. Saad Ahmed Dhiab, Director of the Minister’s Office.

Mr. Ahmed emphasized that, after English, French is the most widely learned language on a global scale and the fifth most widely spoken language in the world.