The national training session on writing local African languages in standardized Arabic script, kicked off on Sunday, March 6, 2022. The training session is organized by ICESCO Center of Arabic for Non-Arabic Speakers, in cooperation with the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), the Yusuf Al-Khalifa Center for Writing Languages in Arabic Script at the International University of Africa (IUA) in Sudan and the Nyala University .

The three-week training session held at the Nyala University in Sudan aims at developing the skills of 35 participants in educational linguistics and language computing. Using the latest electronic applications, participants will learn the procedures and techniques used for writing and programming local oral languages and presenting research projects in standardized Arabic script.

At the opening of the training session, Professor Mukhtar Mohamed Al-Khatib, Director of the Language and Translation Center at Nyala University and the course coordinator, welcomed the guests and trainees in his speech. Then Dr. Abdel Nasser Bashir, Dean of the faculty of Education, and Dr. Saber Abdullah, Director of the Training Department at IUA delivered respective addresses. Professor Babiker Qadri Mari, Director of Yusuf Al-Khalifa Center for Writing Languages in Arabic letter at IUA , thanked ICESCO and its international initiatives in the field of the Arabic language for non-Arabic speakers. The Director-General (DG) of the Culture Sector in South Darfur, Mr. Muhammad Khairy Al-Khawlani, and the DG of the Ministry of Education, Mr. Faisal Madbo, also delivered addresses while the Director of the University of Nyala, Dr. Mahmoud Adam Daoud, concluded the opening session and thanked ICESCO for its efforts in promoting the Arabic language and enhancing its position in countries Members speaking other languages.

Following the opening of the training session, Dr. Youssef Ismaili, an expert at ICESCO’s Center of Arabic for non-Arabic Speakers, delivered an address in which he emphasized the need for further cooperation and coordinated efforts to revive African minority languages by writing them in Arabic script. The expert noted that ICESCO accords particular interest to this important project by devoting various programs to preparing handbooks on writing local African languages in Arabic script for the benefit of education staff.

The training session is part of the cooperation agreement between ICESCO, IsDB and IUA within ICESCO’s Action Plan for 2022. The session will be supervised by four Sudanese experts in education, computing and linguistics and is aimed at meeting the needs and priorities of Member States in preserving the local languages of African Muslim communities by writing them in Arabic script.