Mohammed bin Rashid: Our civilizational projects do not stop, as they stem from our belief in the importance of building an educated person who is proficient in the tools of the future.

Dubai, April 3, 2017 – The Arab Reading Challenge recorded an unprecedented achievement, with the number of participants in the qualifiers for its tenth session reaching 40,286,428 students from 60 countries, including 74,062 students of people of determination, an increase of 24% over the ninth session, which witnessed the participation of 32.231 million students from 50 countries around the world, while the tenth session recorded the participation of 138,426 schools. And 161,507 male and female supervisors.

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, “may God protect him,” said when he was informed of the figures for the tenth session: “Our project in the Arab Reading Challenge continues… as the number of participants in its tenth session reached more than 40 million students in 138,000 schools from 60 countries around the world.”

His Highness added: “Our civilizational projects do not stop. Rather, they stem from our belief in the importance of building an educated, aware human being who is proficient in the tools of the future. As for the foam, it disappears in vain. As for what benefits people, it remains in the earth. This project will benefit millions of students. It will benefit people and benefit the earth. We will remain supportive of it and believe in its civilizational importance.”

For his part, His Excellency Mohammed Abdullah Al Gergawi, Secretary-General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, stressed that the Arab Reading Challenge initiative embodies the vision of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum in creating an Arab future based on knowledge and keeping pace with human civilizational achievement, by establishing the habit of reading and interest in the Arabic language, learning about everything new in the fields of culture and science, and benefiting from the rapid progress in the means of learning and cognitive achievement.

His Excellency said: “The record participation of more than 40 million male and female students in the tenth session of the Arab Reading Challenge carries profound implications about the ability of this inspiring initiative to create a wide-ranging impact on the souls of new Arab generations and motivate them to persevere, diligently, and preserve the Arabic language, in line with the efforts of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation to develop enlightenment programs and projects in the Arab world aimed at enhancing the value of culture, reading, and building knowledge.”

His Excellency Mohammed Al Gergawi added that the number of participants in the 10 sessions of the Arab Reading Challenge reaching more than 203 million students, male and female, is a great achievement for the initiative and for the educational institutions in the Arab world, which believed in the message of the challenge from the beginning, and the integration of their efforts with the Initiatives Foundation resulted in achieving these successive successes.

The participation of more than 40 million students in the tenth session is the largest of its kind in the history of the initiative, and this number represents about 48% of the total general education students in the Arab world, which reflects the transformation of reading into a sustainable daily practice.

A study conducted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) on the impact of the Arab Reading Challenge on the reading habits of students participating in the challenge showed an improvement in the students’ Arabic language skills by 93%, an increase in self-confidence by 96%, an increase in the percentage of students who read more than 50 books annually from 4% to 10%, and an increase in the average reading time of students to reach at least 50 to 100 hours annually after participation, and the students began to read At a rate ranging between 2 and 6 times a week, with a noticeable increase in daily reading.

The qualifiers for the tenth session of the Arab Reading Challenge have begun at the level of participating countries, at the end of which the champions of the Arab Reading Challenge will be announced in each country, in preparation for their participation in the final stage taking place in Dubai, where the first place holders in all categories of the 2026 challenge will be crowned.

In each session of the Arab Reading Challenge, several filtering stages are conducted to select Arab Reading Challenge champions who have succeeded in reading and summarizing the content of 50 books, and absorbing the most prominent information contained therein. The qualifiers are graduated to include grades and levels of study, then schools, educational districts, then directorates or governorates, leading to the selection of challenge champions at the level of each country, whether in the Arab world or participating countries from outside it. The distinguished champions and the distinguished school are selected at the level of each country based on precise, unified criteria.

Specialized committees in the participating countries, in cooperation with the Arab Reading Challenge committees, select the winners at the level of educational regions, districts, and governorates, leading to the selection of the top ten and the winner at the level of each country to participate in the final qualifiers to compete for the title in the final stage that takes place in Dubai.

The champion of the Arab Reading Challenge will receive a financial prize of half a million dirhams, the second place holder will receive 100 thousand dirhams, and the third place holder will receive 70 thousand dirhams.

The champion of the Arab Reading Challenge in the People of Determination category receives a reward of 200,000 dirhams, the second-place holder receives 100,000 dirhams, while the third-place holder receives 50,000 dirhams. This is the category added by the Arab Reading Challenge initiative in its seventh session, where the judging committee for the People of Determination category requires that a total of 25 books be read.

The Arab Reading Challenge allocates prizes worth 200,000 dirhams to the expatriate category, with 100,000 dirhams for the first place holder, 70,000 dirhams for the second place, and 30,000 dirhams for the third place. This is the category in which students from outside Arab countries, learners of the Arabic language, and speakers of other languages ​​participate.

The school that wins the “Distinguished School” title receives a prize of one million dirhams, while the Arab Reading Challenge allocates 500,000 dirhams for second place, and 300,000 dirhams for third place.

In the “Distinguished Supervisor” category, the first-place holder will receive 300,000 dirhams, the second-place holder will receive 100,000 dirhams, and the third-place holder will receive 50,000 dirhams.

Over the course of 10 sessions, the number of participants in the Arab Reading Challenge qualifiers reached more than 203 million male and female students. The challenge also recorded more than 1.065 million participations for Arab schools, and the total number of supervisors participating in 10 sessions reached more than 1.038 million male and female supervisors.

Since its launch, the challenge has continued to make major leaps in terms of the number of participants, which rose from 3.6 million male and female students in the first session, to more than 40 million in the tenth session, an increase of about 1019% over its first session.

32.231 million male and female students from 50 countries participated in the ninth session, representing 132,112 schools and under the supervision of 161,004 male and female supervisors. Twins Bisan and Bilsan Kouka from Tunisia won the title, while student Maria Hassan Ajil from Iraq won first place in the People of Determination category.

Atka Bint Zaid School – First Circle from the Emirates, Tripoli Al-Haddadeen School from Lebanon equally won the title of “Distinguished School,” Sahar Misbah from Egypt won the title of “Distinguished Supervisor,” and student Jihad Muhammad Hussein Fayed Murad from Italy won first place in the Communities category.

The eighth session attracted 28.2 million students, male and female, representing more than 229,000 schools in 50 countries, and under the supervision of more than 154,000 male and female reading supervisors. The title was won by the students Hatem Muhammad Jassim Al-Tirkawi from Syria, Kadi Bint Misfer Al-Khathami from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and Salsabil Hassan Sawalha from Palestine, while the student Muhammad Ahmed Hassan Abdel Halim from Egypt (Al-Azhar Al-Sharif) won first place in the category of owners of Inspiration.

The Creativity School – First Circle from the Emirates won the title of “Distinguished School,” Rabie Ahmed from Syria won the title of “Distinguished Supervisor,” and student Muhammad Al-Rifai from Sweden was crowned the Communities Champion.

The seventh session of the challenge witnessed the participation of 24.8 million students, male and female, from 46 countries, representing more than 188,000 schools, and under the supervision of about 150,000 male and female supervisors. The title was won equally by the student Abdullah Muhammad Abdullah Al-Bari from Qatar, and the student Amna Muhammad Al-Mansouri from the Emirates, while the student Youssef Bin Daoud from Tunisia won the title of champion of the Arab Reading Challenge in the People of Determination category.

The King Abdullah II School of Excellence from Jordan won the title of “Distinguished School,” Samaher Al-Sawai from Jordan won the title of “Distinguished Supervisor,” and student Muhammad Abdul Raqeeb Ali Ahmed Al-Kawkabani from Malaysia won the title of Community Champion.

As for the sixth session, it witnessed the participation of 22.27 million students, male and female, from 44 countries, representing 92,000 schools, and under the supervision of 126,000 male and female supervisors.

The title was won by the student Sham Muhammad Al-Bakour from Syria, the title of “Distinguished School by Al-Mukhtar Jasolit School” from Morocco, and Nour Muhammad Al-Jabour from Jordan, the title of “Distinguished Supervisor”, while the title of Communities Champion went to Nada Al-Satri from Belgium.

The fifth session recorded the participation of more than 21 million people from 52 countries, representing 96,000 schools, and under the supervision of 120,000 male and female supervisors.

The title of Champion of the Arab Reading Challenge was won by student Abdullah Muhammad Murad Abu Khalaf from Jordan, Al Gharib School for Basic Education from Egypt received the title of “Distinguished School,” and the title of “Distinguished Supervisor” went to Moza Al-Ghana from the Emirates, while Alexander Foros from Italy won the title of Community Champion.

In the fourth session of the Arab Reading Challenge, 13.5 million students from 49 countries participated, representing 67,000 schools and under the supervision of 99,000 male and female supervisors.

The student Hadeel Anwar from Sudan won the title of Champion of the Arab Reading Challenge, the Imam Al-Nawawi School from Saudi Arabia won the title of “Distinguished School,” and the title of “Distinguished Supervisor” went to Amira Najib from Egypt, while Mahmoud Bilal from Sweden won the title of Communities Champion.

10.5 million students from 44 countries participated in the third session, representing 52,000 schools, and under the supervision of 87,000 male and female supervisors.

The title was won by student Maryam Amjoun from Morocco, Al-Ikhlas National Schools from Kuwait won the title of “Distinguished School,” Aisha Al-Tuwairqi from Saudi Arabia won the title of “Distinguished Supervisor,” and the title of Communities Champion went to Tasneem Eidi from France.

The second session of the Arab Reading Challenge witnessed the participation of about 7.4 million students, male and female, from 26 countries, representing 41,000 schools and under the supervision of 75,000 male and female supervisors.

Student Afaf Al-Sharif from Palestine was crowned the winner of the second session, the title of “Distinguished School” went to Al-Iman Schools from Bahrain, and Houria Al-Dhale from Morocco won the title of “Distinguished Supervisor.”

The first session of the challenge recorded the participation of 3.6 million students, male and female, from 19 countries, representing 30,000 schools and under the supervision of 60,000 male and female supervisors.

Student Abdullah Farah Jalloud from Algeria won the title of the first session, while Talai’ Al-Amal Secondary School from Palestine won the title of “Distinguished School.”

The Arab Reading Challenge, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in the year 2015, as the largest reading competition and project in the world, aims to enhance the importance of reading among participating students at the level of the Arab world and the world, develop mechanisms for comprehension and self-expression in a sound Arabic language, and endear Arab youth to the Arabic language, and encourage them to use it in their daily dealings.

The challenge, organized by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, seeks to consolidate the love of knowledge, reading and learning among new generations and provide them with the necessary knowledge to contribute to building a better future and refining their abilities and personalities.

The challenge also aims to build the value system of young people by introducing them to the values, customs and beliefs of other cultures.

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