Dubai: Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, a member of Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, on Thursday announced an initiative in which ‘Smart Reading Kits’ will be distributed to refugee children aged between three and 11, as a gift from Shaikha Al Jalila Bint Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in partnership with the UAE Red Crescent.
The initiative is part of the ‘Reading Nation” campaign, which was launched in the beginning of Ramadan by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to provide five million books to students and children in refugee camps.
Jamal Bin Huwaireb, managing sirector of the Foundation, said that one of the key aims of the initiative is to help refugee children across the world live a normal life and aspire and plan for a better future for both them and their communities through opportunities for learning and acquiring knowledge.
He said the distribution of the kits will be done in phases. In the first phase, 200,000 ‘Smart Reading Kits’ will be distributed to Syrian children in refugee camps in Jordan, while the second will target children in need across the world.
The ‘Smart Reading Kit’ includes a number of educational books, colouring books, learning tags, and a smart pen that reads letters and words, and teaches children correct pronunciation. The kit aims to help the children develop their learning and reading skills through innovative techniques.
Dr Mona Al Bahr, CEO of the Al Jalila Cultural Centre for Children, said UAE citizens feel proud to belong to a country that is helping ‘The Reading Nation’ regain its cultural glory.
She also said that the ‘Reading Nation’ campaign will focus on the development of the Arab community from its roots, through children who represent the future of the nation.
She praised the Foundation’s initiative, which she said is an exceptional humanitarian initiative focused on refugee children, as it seeks to equip them with tools to continue their learning, despite being in refugee camps, and help them become strong and productive members of their communities and their nations in the future.
