Fouad Jomaa expected to have already enrolled his four-year-old daughter Aisha in a public school Arabic program.

Instead, he and a number of the other parents spent Tuesday evening pleading to Calgary Board of Education officials and trustees about the merits of a program he believes hundreds of kids will attend.

The CBE initially announced last May they were evaluating the program due to surge of public interest. Parents in favour say they had been told the program would be unveiled in September.

“It makes it that much harder on her,” Jomaa said of the delay, noting Aisha currently devotes four hours on the weekend to studying Arabic instead of relaxing.

“It’s not fair to her,” added mother Elham Merhi.

Board spokesperson Richard Peter said the program is still being evaluated and nothing has been ruled out.

“What I heard are parents who are very interested in the education of their kids ‘ they’re very keen on education,” he said. “They would like to know there are Arabic language options in our system and that’s what we have been discussing with them for more than a year and a half.”

Mother Alex Poole has publicly led efforts on behalf of parents to bring the program to fruition and fears delays may spell the worst for her cause.

“We certainly hope this is not an exclusionary decision against Arabic … and we are waiting to see what the outcome will be,” she said.