UAE makes AI literacy curriculum mandatory in state schools while reducing screen use

UAE Minister of Education Sarah Al Amiri said the country piloted an AI literacy curriculum framework across all state schools from Kindergarten to Year 12 in the 2025-26 school year, and rolled it out officially in September 2026 as a distinct mandatory part of the curriculum. The framework has three core goals and six principles, is divided into three age cycles (K-4, 5-8, 9-12), and more than 25 percent focuses purely on ethical use of AI. The UAE Cabinet approved publishing the full curriculum online for other countries to adapt.

This is one of the few cases where a national government has written AI literacy into the mandatory K-12 curriculum and published the curriculum text, directly affecting school timetabling, teacher training and textbook procurement, and setting compliance and content boundaries for education products entering UAE state schools. PISA 2025 data show 64.3 percent of students in the UAE use AI at least weekly to help them learn, above the OECD average of 45.5 percent, meaning the curriculum lands among students who already use AI widely. The source provides no independent evaluation of implementation outcomes or learning results, and no figures on the scale or effectiveness of teacher training. UAE state schools must schedule mandatory AI literacy content across K-12, while international schools may adapt it, increasing demand for curriculum and teacher training. The published curriculum gives other countries and education products a reference framework, but products must match its ethics and age-band requirements.