Schools cornerstone of any effort to shape the future, says Sheikh Mohammed

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, on Thursday visited Al Ibdaa’ Model School - Cycle 1, in Al Twar-1, Dubai, which received the award for Best School during the 8th Arab Reading Challenge.

Sheikh Mohammed highlighted the vital role schools play in shaping individuals during the formative stage of character development, laying the foundation needed to instil values and principles that guide a person through life.

He stressed that schools represent the cornerstone of any effort to shape the future, a mission that can only be fulfilled by nurturing a conscientious and creative generation.

Sheikh Mohammed urged leading educationists and the education sector at large to step up efforts to inspire students to read, recognising its power to open new pathways to excellence.

“The journey of progress begins in schools, and through knowledge, we create generations capable of achieving the impossible. Encouraging schools to foster a culture of reading within the new generation equips them with the keys to success and enhances their chances of shaping the future,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

On Wednesday, Sheikh Mohammed awarded Al Ibdaa’ Model School - Cycle 1 the title of ‘Best School’ and an Dhs1 million prize, acknowledging its vital role in encouraging the reading habit among students, in addition to promoting the challenge through various initiatives and enhancing student participation. The school was chosen for the award from among 229,000 schools from 50 countries that participated in the challenge.

Sheikh Mohammed’s visit to the school reflects his unwavering commitment to the education sector and his longstanding support for exceptional educational institutions. It also underscores the importance

Sheikh Mohammed attaches to fostering a culture of reading as a pathway to expand horizons of young minds and help them assimilate knowledge, preparing them to shine as a generation of innovators and creators across diverse fields.

He commended Al Ibdaa’ School for serving as a role model for educational institutions in the country, recognising the efforts of the school’s leadership in inspiring students to embrace reading and displaying an awareness that brightens optimism for the future.

He emphasised that cultivating a reading habit opens the door to limitless worlds of knowledge and scientific discovery, laying the foundation for intellectual and cultural growth in any civilised society eager to claim for itself an esteemed place among nations and peoples.

Exceptional numbers

Sheikh Mohammed toured the school, established in 1993 in Dubai’s Al Twar, and was briefed by the school's management about various efforts undertaken to encourage reading among the student community.

The school implemented 48 projects to claim top honours, with its students reading 25,000 books in one year. Most students read 50 books on average during the academic year.

The management also elaborated on educational curricula offered at the school, which include not only Arabic and English but also Chinese as part of a general education pathway.

In addition to emerging a winner in the 2024 Arab Reading Challenge, Al Ibdaa’ School has garnered numerous other awards and recognitions in recent years, including the Emirates Development Award in 2020, the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Educational Performance in the Outstanding Teacher category in 2018, and the Khalifa Educational Award in 2017.

This year's Arab Reading Challenge, the world's largest Arabic reading initiative organised by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives (MBRGI), witnessed unprecedented participation, attracting over 28 million students from more than 229,000 schools in 50 countries, guided by over 154,000 supervisors.