Shafaq News

Once a defining marker of identity and scholarship across the Arab world, Arabic handwriting is now in steady decline. Teachers from Baghdad to Amman and Cairo say they increasingly struggle to read student exam papers. Parents describe notebooks filled with distorted letters and erratic lines. Education specialists warn that the skill, which once anchored governance, literature, and religious scholarship, is fading at a pace faster than educators can address.

In Iraq, the signs of this erosion are visible as early as the third and fourth grades. Students themselves admit they no longer see handwriting as important. Ammar, a fourth-grade student, said he memorizes information and writes it down during exams just to pass, adding that no teacher has ever criticized his handwriting and that grades remain his only priority. A third-grade student, Fatima, described a similar experience: “I write exactly as I read in textbooks, and my father draws long guiding lines across my notebook so I can keep my writing straight.”

At home, the challenge becomes even more visible. Rasha, a working mother in Beirut, spends evenings guiding her nine-year-old daughter’s hand as it moves unevenly across the page. She draws lines to help her write straight, yet the letters still drift upward or compress into hurried shapes. The process is slow and discouraging. She recalls a childhood in which “a neat page carried a sense of pride,” and worries her daughter is losing not only a skill but a connection to the language itself.

In southern Iraq, Jamal has revived an old classroom practice by drawing horizontal guidelines on blank pages for his son. The boy writes quickly and carelessly, and letters collapse into one another. “My son types with impressive speed but struggles with basic handwritten forms. Handwriting is a relationship with the language that cannot be replicated on a screen,” he said, describing the broader erosion of foundational skills.

Teachers say this decline has been years in the making. Heavy Arabic curricula leave little room for foundational drills such as letter formation. Instructors in early grades focus on finishing the syllabus rather than correcting handwriting. Shortened periods in double-shift schools make dedicated writing practice nearly impossible, while many households facing economic pressures no longer supervise handwriting at home.

These issues converge with factors inside the classroom. Several educators admit that newly recruited teachers sometimes struggle to form letters correctly themselves. Teacher-training institutions have leaned heavily toward technology-based pedagogy and exam-oriented methods at the expense of script instruction. The disappearance of the dotted handwriting booklet—once essential in early Arabic literacy—has further removed a tool that allowed children to trace letters and internalize proper structure.

Here, educators emphasize that the decline is not only structural but behavioral. An Arabic-language professor, Naif Shalal al-Khalidi, attributes part of the deterioration to reduced writing frequency and the growing use of computers and mobile phones instead of pens. He also notes a lack of motivation among students to improve their handwriting and weak parental follow-up. “The problem is compounded by inconsistent classroom attention and the absence of positive reinforcement.” In his view, systematic training workshops, competitions, and incentives could help revive student interest and restore handwriting as a valued skill.

Regional educational reports show that handwriting challenges extend far beyond Iraq. Surveys conducted in several Arab states indicate widespread difficulty in reading students’ written responses and gaps in teacher preparation in teaching handwriting. These trends coincide with the rapid expansion of smartphones, tablets, and digital communication, reshaping how young people interact with text.

Salem Habib, a handwriting specialist, said multiple studies found that children who rely primarily on typing show weaker activation in brain areas responsible for visual memory and language retention. “This is particularly significant for Arabic, a script built on continuous hand movement and visual-spatial coordination,” Habib noted that prolonged use of devices reduces fine-motor control and visual sensitivity to letter shapes, making it harder for students to regulate pen pressure and maintain proportion.

For centuries, handwritten Arabic served as the vessel of intellectual and cultural life—used in religious manuscripts, scientific works, poetry, and governance. Scripts like Kufic, Naskh, Thuluth, and Ruq‘ah shaped the visual identity of the region. During colonial periods in North Africa and the Levant, handwritten Arabic was preserved in homes and community mosques, functioning as a subtle form of cultural resistance.

Today, handwriting’s symbolic value remains intact, but its educational foundations continue to erode. Linguistics professor Ismail Hanna attributes the decline to weak writing habits, digital reliance, limited motivation, and insufficient follow-up from teachers and parents. “Handwriting cannot recover without consistent monitoring, encouragement, and structured practice,” he stressed.

Other specialists point to how script choice itself affects learning. For many students, early education now relies heavily on Naskh—a formal script similar to Qur’anic writing. At the Institute of Fine Arts in Dhi Qar, instructor Salah al-Din al-Jassem argued that this slows learning because Naskh requires more precision and longer training. He believed Ruq‘ah, traditionally used for everyday writing due to its speed and simplicity, “is a better pedagogical starting point but has gradually disappeared from early curricula.”

Al-Jassem traced part of the decline to rapid digitalization and changing student attitudes. “The dominance of keyboards and screens has overshadowed penmanship and weakened the psychological readiness of students to engage in slow, disciplined handwriting practice.” He noted that handwriting once relied on Ruq‘ah-based practice booklets widely used in the 1950s, but that today’s early-grade teachers often lack structured exercises and repetition techniques that help children internalize correct letter shapes.

According to Jassem, students must develop visual-motor skills, not only in drawing letters but in imagining them. “Letter formation begins with a visual image,” he explained, adding that proper posture, seating, and grip are essential. Teachers, he says, must monitor hand-eye coordination closely during writing to reinforce correct technique.

Across the region, countries such as Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Lebanon have reintroduced Ruq‘ah in primary curricula or reinstated handwriting booklets in private schools. Morocco and Tunisia maintain relatively strong handwriting outcomes, partly due to smaller class sizes and earlier script instruction.

Iraq, however, faces additional obstacles. Overcrowded classrooms, curriculum overload, inconsistent teacher preparation, and limited time in double-shift schools make sustainable reform difficult. Examination committees increasingly report concerns about illegible handwriting affecting the fairness of assessments, particularly in subjects requiring extended written responses.

Despite these challenges, Hanna pointed out that research repeatedly shows that handwriting practice strengthens reading comprehension, cognitive processing, and long-term retention. “Students who regularly write by hand develop stronger connections between letter shape, sound, and meaning, an advantage that is especially important in Arabic.”

Reform, however, requires more than classroom adjustments. “Restoring handwriting demands a coordinated effort,” Hanna said, “from strengthening teacher preparation to reintroducing structured handwriting curricula and reinstating practical tools like dotted handwriting booklets.”

Digital instruction, according to him, must be balanced with traditional writing practice, and cultural institutions can help connect younger generations with script traditions through hybrid calligraphy-and-design programs.

The skill that once underpinned Arabic thought, identity, and scholarly life is now at risk. “Rebuilding it will require far more than longer lessons or revised booklets. It will require restoring a cultural relationship with the written word—one that shaped Arab societies for more than a millennium,” he concluded.

Written and edited by Shafaq News staff.