Mohammed bin Rashid, congratulating the Arab reading heroes: Reading will remain our weapon in the face of all challenges and difficult times

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, participated in the virtual final ceremony of the Arab Reading Challenge, the largest reading and cognitive initiative of its kind to instill a culture of reading among young people in the Arab world, which participated in its fifth session More From 21 million Arab students from 52 countries, 96,000 schools, and 120,000 reading supervisors.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum stressed during his participation in the ceremony, saying: "Despite the Corona pandemic, the enthusiasm for the Arabic language remained." His Highness congratulated the champions of the challenge, praising the remarkable participation, saying: “I thank the 21 million Arab students who participated with us in the challenge in the previous session, despite the pandemic conditions.” ".

His Highness concluded: "Reading will remain our weapon in facing all challenges and difficult times, and we will meet you in the UAE next year, God willing."

The student, Abdullah Muhammad Murad Abu Khalaf from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, was crowned with the title of "Champion of the Arab Reading Challenge", in its fifth session, taking the favorite title among more than 21 million students from 52 countries, and a prize of 500,000 dirhams, and the "Al-Gharib School for Basic Education" won From the Arab Republic of Egypt, with the title of “Outstanding School” and a prize of one million dirhams, outperforming 96,000 schools that participated in the challenge this year. Moza Al-Ghanna from the United Arab Emirates also won the title of "Outstanding Supervisor" and an award of 300,000 dirhams in the largest reading and cognitive challenge of its kind in the Arab world.

Challenge Journey

The closing ceremony of the fifth session of the Arab Reading Challenge, which was organized virtually, was broadcast via the mbc media network and the Arab Reading Challenge website, where it was followed by millions in the Arab world and the world.

The celebration reviewed the journey of the challenge this year, which witnessed exceptional circumstances due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic and the unprecedented challenges it posed globally. To disrupt the reading and cognitive movement that the challenge succeeded in planting its seeds since its inception in 2015 until today.

Also, the ceremony, presented by the Lebanese media and Minister of Information, George Kordahi, reviewed the process of the Arab Reading Challenge since its launch in 2015, and the stages it went through to become the largest knowledge event of its kind in the world to instill a culture of reading among young people, and its impact on the lives of millions of students, individuals, families and knowledge societies. In the Arab world, in addition to his inspiring role for students, learners and readers of the Arabic language wherever they are, especially after it became global in its third session and opened the door for participation to all students from all over the world.

Challenge Heroes

The student, Abdullah Muhammad Murad Abu Khalaf from Jordan, took first place in the Arab Reading Challenge in its fifth session, which took place during the last academic year in exceptional circumstances imposed by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic in the world, with merit, after fierce competition, demonstrating remarkable distinction in various fields. The qualifying stages that the challenge went through, at the level of school students in the Arab world and the diaspora, who reached the finals, to win, in addition to the favorite title, a prize of half a million dirhams, to help him complete his university studies.

Abdullah Abu Khalaf, 17, and his family were surprised by the visit of His Excellency Ahmed Ali Al Balushi, Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, to his family's home to inform him of his victory and congratulate him on his achievement.

Throughout the stages of the challenge, Abu Khalaf was praised by successive jury committees thanks to his confident interaction with the questions that were put to him, and his distinguished abilities in discussing his ideas fluently and competently, which reflected the effective influence of reading in building his personality and refining his expressive abilities.

Sarah Al Daeef from the Kingdom of Morocco also won the second place, and Diaa Al Qaisum from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came in third place, while Yousra Muhammad Al Imam from Sudan came in fourth, and Abdel Rahman Mansour Ahmed Muhammad from the Arab Republic of Egypt came in fifth in the reading challenge. The Arab League, in its fifth session, at the level of male and female students participating in the Arab countries.

Distinguished Schools

The virtual closing ceremony of the Arab Reading Challenge, in its fifth session, witnessed the announcement of the victory of "Al-Gharib School for Basic Education" from the Arab Republic of Egypt, with the title of "The Distinguished School", outperforming 96,000 schools that participated in the challenge this year, where it won a prize of one million Dirhams, to rehabilitate the reading school’s facilities and support its knowledge activities in this field, helping it to continue its educational and cognitive role in graduating generations of young readers.

The "Educational Harvest" school from the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan also won the second place in the distinguished school category in the Arab Reading Challenge, and the "Al-Anjal National School" from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia won the third place in the Distinguished School category within the fifth session of the Arab Reading Challenge.

The distinguished schools that won in this session of the challenge succeeded in raising the participation rate among their students in the Arab Reading Challenge for this year, and in creating a qualitative reading movement among their students and the community, through close cooperation with local community institutions through organizing many virtual reading activities and events.

The Distinguished Supervisors

Moza Al-Ghanna from the United Arab Emirates won the title of "Outstanding Supervisor" and a prize of 300,000 dirhams in the Arab Reading Challenge in its fifth session. And the distinguished supervisor, Asmaa Saqr from Tunisia, came in second place. Khaled Al-Bukiri from Morocco won third place in the “Outstanding Supervisor” category of the Arab Reading Challenge, in appreciation of their giving, which embodies the tremendous efforts made by more than 120,000 supervisors and supervisors in the Arab Reading Challenge to guide students and motivate them to participate and encourage them to cross the various stages of the challenge, despite The educational, educational and logistical challenges created by the emerging epidemic of the Corona virus in the world.

Community champions.. high determination

In addition, Alexandre Voros, from Italy, was crowned the champion of the Arab Reading Challenge, in its fifth season, in a category for Arab students from communities and foreigners participating in the challenge from all over the world. The participation of Furus, who is of determination, was an inspiring story for many who followed his journey, his diligence and perseverance to learn the Arabic language and participate in the Arab reading challenge, despite all the challenges and the fact that Arabic is not his original language, making every effort and time he could to learn about its literature, writings and culture. The closing ceremony of the Arab Reading Challenge featured a touching video presentation of Furus, who won a prize of 100,000 dirhams.

Afnan Abdel Ghani, from Malaysia, won the second place, and Farah Al-Ayoubi, from the Netherlands, won the third place, in the Communities category. 

The UAE embassies and diplomatic envoys contacted the winners and champions of this edition of the Arab Reading Challenge in the countries in which they live to congratulate them and inform them of the victory.

     Special Appreciation

The closing ceremony of the Arab Reading Challenge was marked by the presentation of an impressive video about the contributions of the distinguished supervisor, the late Taher bin Ahmed, coordinator of the Arab Reading Challenge in Mauritania, in appreciation of his efforts, as he accompanied the Arab Reading Challenge sessions over five years, and contributed to encouraging hundreds of thousands of students in his country To participate in the biggest Arab knowledge challenge.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, who died in July of this year after a struggle with illness, said through his official account on Twitter: "Al-Taher bin Ahmed, supervisor of the Arab Reading Challenge in Mauritania, annually supervised more than 500 thousand students in the largest Arab reading competition.. what he sown will soon bear fruit, young people who raise a great structure for our Arab nation.”

The largest knowledge participation

The fifth edition of the Arab Reading Challenge constituted the largest session of its kind since its first launch six years ago, through the largest participation of school students, with the registration of 21 million students from 14 Arab countries and 38 other countries that include Arab communities and learners of the Arabic language, compared to 13.5 million participants from 49 countries participated in the last session, which reflects the great demand for the challenge and its role in motivating the younger generations, consolidating reading and advancing the Arabic language, and enhancing cultural awareness among students from a young age.

Also, 120,000 supervisors participated in this course, who supported their students in the various stages of the challenge, providing you with all forms of support and guidance in choosing reading materials and following up and evaluating book summaries, compared to 99,000 supervisors who participated in the fourth edition of the challenge, while the challenge in this session included 96 One thousand schools compared to 67 thousand schools in the previous session.

A new digital model

The Arab Reading Challenge has benefited from the applications of innovative digital solutions effectively to meet the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, and the resulting closures and disruptions to the educational process in many parts of the world, as the fifth cycle of the challenge introduced “electronic summaries” instead of passports. Paper reading, so that the participants summarized the content of what they viewed in digital form. Each eligible participant redeemed 50 books in five reading passports.

Interim qualifiers were also held at the level of schools, governorates and educational districts in the concerned countries, in a digital manner, relying on technology solutions to ensure the continuity of the largest Arab reading initiative. The winners of the reading challenge were announced at the country level virtually, following the final rounds, which also took place virtually.

And jury committees of experts, specialists and educators worked to evaluate the contestants in the challenge by default, to select the winning champions at the level of countries and communities, and even to choose the champion of the Arab Reading Challenge in its fifth session.

The first Arab countries

The Arab Reading Challenge has announced successively during the last period the names of the champions of the Arab Reading Challenge at the level of countries, where Ahmed Mansour Abdel Rahman Mohamed won the title of the Arab Reading Challenge Champion at the level of the Arab Republic of Egypt, and Fatima Atef through Al-Razzaq Al-Bandari at the level of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif. Muhammad Salih Muhammad won first place in the Arab reading challenge at the level of the Mauritanian Republic, while Rahaf Youssef Al-Sayyid Ahmed won first place at the level of the Lebanese Republic, and Mona bint Darwish bin Salem Al-Esayi won the first place in the Arab reading challenge at the level of the Sultanate of Oman.

At the level of the Kingdom of Morocco, Sarah Al-Daif won first place in the Arab reading challenge, while Hadeel Rabawi was the first place in the Arab reading challenge at the level of the Republic of Tunisia. The student, Yusra Muhammad Al-Imam, won the first place at the level of the Republic of Sudan, and Abdullah Yahya Al-Shehri and Shahd Dia Al-Qaisum ranked first at the level of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

In Algeria, Sharati Mohammed won first place at the level of the Republic, while Ali Reda Al-Araibi grabbed first place at the level of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Abdullah Muhammad Murad Abu Khalaf, and Sultan Salem Al Mazrouei, ranked first at the level of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, at the level of the UAE.

Specialized committees

The judging committees in this year's Arab Reading Challenge consisted of experts, educators, specialists and intellectuals who worked on a comprehensive evaluation of the competitors, by testing the speed of intuition, proficiency in formulating and arranging ideas, knowledge, fluency of self-expression, and highlighting skills and abilities.

The Arab Reading Challenge usually consists of a series of stages and qualifiers to select the champions of the challenge who excelled in reading and summarizing the content of 50 books and presenting the most prominent information contained therein within summaries that were paper in previous sessions and became digital in this year’s session in order to adapt to the global Corona pandemic and the exceptional circumstances associated with it.

The qualifiers range from grades and stages, schools, educational districts, directorates or governorates, to the selection of the challenge champions at the level of each country, whether in the Arab world or the participating countries from outside it. The challenge champions, distinguished schools and distinguished supervisors are selected according to strict, unified criteria that adhere to a comprehensive and objective evaluation to select the best entries.

The biggest student challenge

This year's edition of the Arab Reading Challenge, in which 21 million students from 52 countries participated, was the largest in the history of the student challenge since it was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum with the aim of urging the younger generations to pay attention to knowledge achievement and make reading an integral part of their life practices.

The fourth session of the challenge recorded 13.5 million participants and 99,000 supervisors from 67,000 schools in 49 countries, while the third session of the Arab Reading Challenge witnessed the participation of 10.5 million students from 44 countries.

The second session of the Arab Reading Challenge recorded the participation of 7.4 million students from 41,000 schools, while the first session of the Arab Reading Challenge recorded the participation of 3.6 million students from 30,000 schools.

The total prizes for the Arab Reading Challenge amount to more than 11 million dirhams, to be distributed to the winners in all stages of the challenge.

Minds and Thoughts for the Future

, and the Arab Reading Challenge, which falls under the umbrella of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, within the axis of spreading education and knowledge, aims to stimulate a comprehensive knowledge movement in the Arab world by dedicating a culture of reading and reading and knowledge acquisition as a well-established practice among young people and rising generations. Raising awareness of the importance of reading among participating students at the level of the Arab world and the world, enhancing their general culture, developing mechanisms for assimilation and self-expression in a sound Arabic language, developing self-learning skills and critical and creative thinking, for the development of the reality of the Arabic language, and restoring its role in knowledge production. And enriching its contribution to thought and human sciences, as well as promoting human values ​​based on cultural and civilizational communication, dialogue and interaction with the world in the language of thought and science to create a better future.

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