Why English is so indispensable...

I don't mean to brag, but I was a marvel of my time! Having graduated from a government secondary school, one would be expected not to have the best level of English language.
It was one of those unspoken truths; if you were government school educated, English as a subject was most probably not your hottest one.

People's eyes widen and brows raise when they realise that I have been solely educated in government schools and that I have not even attended higher education.
How could it be, they puzzle, a government education graduate who is good at English? It is indeed a marvel.

For as long as I remember, English was known to be one of the most dreaded subjects in government schools, perhaps even the weakest and less significant. The change within the job market spectrum though, over the past decade or so, has made English an essential skill to learn. Not a day goes by without either using it, hearing it, or reading it in our everyday activities, be it at work or at home.

I remember how throughout my secondary level years my English class was scarcely looked at seriously. In a number of cases I was actually the only student sitting on the chair in the front - it was the only subject I sat in the front for.

The teacher would give me an odd look as if to say: "Well, what are you doing here?"
Most of my other classmates considered English as a filler subject, one which they had no interest in nor considered an important one as, say, physics or chemistry (both of which I was terrible at, I confess), for the prosperity of their career potential.

Things have changed in the past 10 years. And things will change more within the next decade.
With the Ministry of Education's decision to introduce the English language as a subject at the preliminary stages of education, starting this new academic year, it is safe to assume that the attitude towards the subject will change.The move comes as part of a complete overhaul for the public education system adopted by the government.

Education Minister Dr Majeed Al Nuaimi recently announced that no less than 100 government primary schools would begin from this academic year 2006/07 by including English as a subject in the early stages. Sixty of these will introduce English for first year students, while the rest will familiarise their young students with the language from the second or third year.
This will likely contribute to reforming the perception of these young students and encourage them to firstly be more interested in the subject and secondly realise its importance as a skill in today's day and age.

Having said that, when I look at my young nephew who, at the age of only five, speaks as much English as he does Arabic, I also acknowledge the essence of keeping our future generations rooted to their culture and heritage. Still, looking back to those years I find that I wasn't good at English because I understood its potential significance, but because I was simply intrigued by it.
At the end of the day, we can only be as good as we can be in the things we feel passionate about.

And that is the crux of the matter.

*Appeared on GDN Vol XXIX, NO. 188, Sunday, 24th September 2006