Abu Dhabi — The UAE nationals will constitute no more than two per cent of the country’s population by 2025, statistics shared by officials from the Ministry of Education, academics and students at a National Identity Forum held in Zayed University here on Monday revealed.
The forum discussed the changes in the demographic makeup of the country, which used to have 63 per cent nationals in 1968. Now, nationals form only 20 per cent of the people, while a total of 200 nationalities speaking more than 100 languages and dialects reside in the country.
Jeffery Belnap, Assistant Provost and Dean of Interdisciplinary Programmes at Zayed University, said the threat to the UAE national identity is caused by the global phenomenon of commercial culture assaulting values, wiping out indigenous culture.
“We have to equip students to cope with forces of commercialisation in a thoughtful way without rejecting others, and at the same time, maintain the core of their identity,” he said.
Ali Al Suwaidi, Adviser to the Minister of Education, said that although the role of the educational system is crucial in entrenching national identity, society as a whole needs to work together in maintaining Emirati culture.
He stressed the Arabic language curriculum of the MoE is very strong, and said he thinks Emiratis are still attached to their mother tongue and their local dialect.
Mohammed Al Marri, Manager of Business Performance and Continuous Implementation at Abu Dhabi Aircraft Technology, disagreed with Al Suwaidi, arguing that Arabic language has weakened over time.
“Life on the street should be a continuation of saluting the Emirati flag. Our students are ashamed of our national anthem, and Arabic language is weak. We do not want to be like Singapore where the indigenous population is driven out of their own homes and it retains little of its culture,” he said.
Asma Hamid