Moving forward Early childhood education in Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates

This chapter explores early childhood education opportunities available to three- to six-year-old children in four Arab countries, namely: Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and United Arab Emirates. It deals with a general historical overview of Islamic influences on these systems followed by an individual description of the educational regime in each state. The chapter discusses the education systems in these countries with recommendations made for future action to further their quality and service delivery. The Qatari government has provided demographic information on the national composition of pre-primary education programs including nurseries. Preschool education in Oman is composed of two academic years for children ranging in age from 3.5–5.5 years of age. As with the other Islamic countries previously considered, teaching in the Emirates was first conducted by Muslim scholars who taught the Quran and the Prophet's hadiths at a local level.