Balochistan Assembly backs compulsory Arabic in government primary schools

The Balochistan Assembly unanimously passed a resolution on 13 November 2026 calling for Arabic to be made compulsory in the province’s government primary schools. The proceedings in Quetta also brought demands for education in mother tongues and implementation of an existing provincial law.

Former chief minister Dr Malik Baloch expressed his full support for the resolution on Arabic-language education. Alongside that support, he urged the government to put into practice the law passed by the assembly in 2013 providing for education in all mother tongues.

Dr Malik Baloch said future generations of children should not be deprived of their mother tongues. He called for implementation of the legislation already approved by the assembly, raising the issue of mother-tongue instruction during the discussion on compulsory Arabic.

Provincial assembly member Kulsoom Baloch also demanded that mother tongues be included in the curriculum. She warned that nations which fail to keep their language, civilisation and culture alive eventually disappear.

Responding on the curriculum, provincial Education Minister Raheela Durrani said Arabic had already been included. She also told the assembly that the Quran was being taught in educational institutions under an approved act.

Durrani said that instruction covered reading the Quran from the text as well as its translation. She added that Quran teaching extended from the lower classes through to the higher classes.

On the calls for mother-tongue education, the minister said incorporating mother tongues into the curriculum was difficult. She pointed to the different languages spoken across Balochistan when explaining that difficulty.