"Initiatives of Mohammed bin Rashid" It appreciates the Arab League’s invitation to adopt "Reading challenge" An educational curriculum in the Arab world

Dubai, December 19 / WAM / The Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation appreciated the invitation of the League of Arab States and the ministries concerned with education in the Arab countries to adopt the Arab Reading Challenge initiative as an educational curriculum, as it is a pioneering cognitive and cultural project that contributes to strengthening the Arabic language.
This call comes based on the decision issued by the Economic and Social Council, one of the institutions of the League of Arab States, in its 114th regular session at the ministerial level, which was announced by Ambassador Haifa Abu Ghazaleh, Assistant Secretary-General and Head of the League’s Social Affairs Sector, during a celebration organized at the headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo yesterday, Wednesday, on the occasion of International Arabic Language Day, which falls on December 18 of each year.
His Excellency Saeed Al Eter, Assistant Secretary-General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, confirmed that the Arab Reading Challenge initiative translates the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, “may God protect him,” in spreading the culture of reading. In the Arabic language for male and female students, and to help them master its sciences and appreciate its aesthetics, realize its unlimited richness and ability to absorb various sciences and knowledge, and raise its status as an identity and cultural affiliation.
His Excellency said that the call of the League of Arab States to adopt the Arab Reading Challenge initiative as an educational curriculum in the Arab world is gaining great importance at this time, as the world celebrates the Arabic language, as the language of poetry, art and creativity, the language of thought, science and innovation, the language of identity, culture and civilization, which has formed, throughout the ages, a bridge of knowledge between… Different peoples and civilizations.
His Excellency Saeed Al-Eter added that the UAE has made the Arabic language an integral part of its cultural identity through many knowledge projects and initiatives that serve the people of Dhaad wherever they are, perhaps the most important of which is the “Arab Reading Challenge,” the largest initiative of its kind in the Arab world to instill a culture of reading in the Arabic language among young people. Over the course of eight sessions, more than 131 million students, both male and female, participated in it. They will be the guardians of the Arabic language in the future, continuing to consolidate its global status as a language of science, literature, art and beauty.
He pointed out that the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation will remain committed to developing its plans and visions to serve the Arabic language, and harnessing its expertise and capabilities to spread the culture of reading among the rising Arab generations.
The Arab Reading Challenge, which was launched in its first session in the 2015-2016 academic year under the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, “may God protect him”, and organized by the “Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives” Foundation, aims to Enhancing the importance of reading among participating students at the level of the Arab world and the world, developing mechanisms for comprehension and self-expression in a sound Arabic language, and developing creative thinking skills, leading to enriching cognitive content. Available in the Arabic language and enhancing its status as a language of thought, science, research and creativity.
The challenge seeks to consolidate the love of the Arabic language in the hearts of the rising generations, encourage them to use it in their daily dealings, and promote the values ​​of communication, acquaintance, dialogue, and openness to different cultures, which establishes the principles of tolerance, coexistence, and acceptance of others.
The Arab Reading Challenge recorded tremendous growth rates in the volume of participation, starting from the first session, which attracted 3.6 million students, all the way to the eighth session, which achieved unprecedented numbers, as the number of participants in its qualifiers reached more than 28.2 million students, an increase of 683% over the first session, reaching The total number of students participating in eight courses is more than 131 million male and female students.
The Arab Reading Challenge, across eight seasons, recorded 795,000 participants from Arab schools, and the first session began with the participation of 30,000 schools, bringing the number in the eighth session to more than 229,000 schools, and the number of supervisors rose from 60,000 in the first session to more than 154,000 in the session. The eighth, with a total of 716 thousand supervisors, both male and female, across eight seasons of the Arab Reading Challenge.
It is noteworthy that the International Arabic Language Day was approved by the United Nations in 1973, in a step aimed at consolidating the status of the Arabic language as a global language among the official working languages ​​of the international organization, as it is considered one of the most spoken languages ​​within the group of Semitic languages ​​and one of the most widespread languages ​​in the world, as it is spoken by about 450 million people are distributed mainly in the Arab world, in addition to many neighboring geographical regions.
The Arabic language gains its importance from being the language of the Holy Qur’an. The spread of Islam and its establishment in countries outside the Arabian Peninsula has influenced its rise in status, as it has become the language of politics, science and literature for many centuries in the lands ruled by Muslims.
The Arabic language has directly influenced many other languages ​​in the Islamic world, such as Turkish, Persian, Berber, Kurdish, Urdu, Malay, Indonesian, Albanian, and some other African languages ​​such as Hausa, Swahili, and some European languages, especially Mediterranean ones such as Spanish, Portuguese, Maltese, and Sicilian.
The Arabic language is considered one of the most prolific languages ​​in terms of linguistic material. For example, Ibn Manzur’s dictionary of Lisan al-Arab from the thirteenth century contains more than 80 thousand words, while in the English language, the dictionary of Samuel Johnson, who was one of the first to compile an English dictionary from the eighteenth century, contains 42 thousand words.

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