A member of the jury of the program «Arab Reading Challenge» Berwin Habib, that the challenge «is a victory for the Arab character and culture, and that the numbers of participants of the challenge augur well, especially as the challenge arrived to Arab students in the Diaspora». She pointed out in statements to «Emirates Today», that «the number of participants to more than 30 million in four years, means that we are establishing a generation reader despite all the temptations of the era and the crowded video games and entertainment».
As for her membership in the jury of the Arab Reading Challenge program, Habib said: “I was fortunate to have been part of the initiative since its inception, and my joy was great with the idea of winning the Arabic character and culture. It was a historic moment in Dubai, which made the miracle, and today I am closer to the heroes I saw on stage and in the backstage of the concert, but today I entered the house and the house because we are transmitting reality TV. '' “A lot of moments were surprising for us, even in the jury,” she said, describing how she felt at the committee. “We are facing a test and launching such an initiative, which includes all Arabs and even those in the diaspora, has turned into a reading race in all kinds of books. The number of readers rises, as 13 and a half million people took part in the challenge. Every student has read more than 50 books, and this towering structure of books that Dubai has put in the forefront of reading makes us regain hope in all our abilities and believe that everything is possible. '' Habib pointed to the questions raised in seminars and lectures on the low rates of reading among the Arab peoples, and what is rumored about that we are a nation does not read, she said «usually come up with recommendations but these recommendations are buried between the walls of universities, without any serious step to change the situation, so it can be said that This challenge for the first time addresses the problem of reading in the Arab individual seriously, and for the first time high authorities treat writers not as a political paper but as the authors of books, and books as a cultural product without any political or religious backgrounds ».
Habib stressed that the Arab community needs such an initiative «who read more than 50 books in this time filled with the temptations of play and media is the achievement, and we have noted through the challenge students' passion for reading, and how the habit of reading has become an inherent culture, which means that we Independent reading to acquire knowledge and broaden the horizon of understanding to ensure life success as well as academic ».
Habib considered that «reading is not a hobby but a necessity like oxygen, a successful society is based on the act of reading», explaining that in this session I got to know the children up close, and saw their concern and sportsmanship. She stressed that «the main objective of the challenge is to establish a library in each house, most of the houses are almost devoid of books, and the challenge promotes reading at a time when reading has become an old fashion». On audio books and the attraction of the current generation, Habib said: «can not live without them in the current era, and the new generation is indeed amazing because it is attracted to the world of books, if we search in the book summaries, we find that the majority of young people.
Habib noted that she, along with the jury members, is working to ask students questions, to get to know them more, and to select the best to reach 16 students to five qualify for the closing ceremony in the opera. She pointed out that the questions will be about the books read by the students, and how they understand the books, and how they came out with a different consciousness, and not about remembering mainly, «because it is not the task of the jury to search for students such as robots, but they are asked questions that concern their minds, and how to analyze How books established their imagination, and gave them tools, when the student is a reader does not use remembering, but analyzes, and this is what we want from the reader ». She pointed out that the challenge is moving towards building a thought, and a different and qualitative reader who knows where to go in the book fair, «especially that at a time when there is no real compass to guide the generation, I can not force my child to go to this book, but we have to understand how to attract him to this book» . Habib pointed out that the cultural quotas in television are very few, praising a program that raises this quota «such a program that does not offer talents in singing, but in reading and culture», and likened the television to the press is a "holocaust," but "we want to raise our television as Social media plays a role in creating awareness. After years we want to reap the true seeds of nation building. ”
A member of the jury of the Arab Reading Challenge said that the program is offered to all people, especially that «children speak their dialects and not in difficult dictionary language, we want to be realistic and not alienated from our dialects, these programs give awareness, because television is not the best platform for the transmission of culture, "But it's the most dangerous platform to falsify reality and falsify culture. And having access to television means we are conscious. We may see many students jealous of colleagues and encourage reading."
Incubator environment for children
A member of the jury of the Arab Reading Challenge program, Berwen Habib, expressed her delight at the presence of students who are willing to read outside the school curriculum, pointing out that in the committee they encountered students who read a distinguished quality of books, and this gives an indication of an incubating environment for children to take this journey which is considered Change is the most important of them. She praised the students who faced the extreme circumstances and motivated by a passion for the library and books, because reading is an act that changes human behavior.