Campaign to educate UAE children about heritage

Dubai Awareness of the UAE's rich heritage must be passed on to the next generation, officials from the Dubai Municipality said on the concluding day of Heritage Week yesterday.

For traditions to be carried forward, it is crucial to generate enthusiasm among children, who at the moment are either not told or are not interested about the history of their country," said Eng Abdullah Rafei, Deputy Director General of Dubai Municipality.

"Most of them do not know about basic traditions like the ceremony when children learn the Quran by heart, many do not know about Bastakia or traditional poetry," he said.

"We need to know whether it is mere ignorance or that they are not interested in knowing about the importance of heritage.

"Either way, it is upon us to tell them about it and also make them enthusiastic to know more about their traditions."

The municipality is working at spreading awareness across various sectors and after covering school students, it plans to target the general public and university students.

The civic body gave questionnaires to school students to gauge the level of their knowledge.

Fifth phase

"We are in the fifth phase and will focus on general public after which we plan to target universities," an official from the Architectural Heritage department told Gulf News.

Several activities including traditional dances were organised at the Children's City to mark the end of Heritage Week yesterday.

A heritage train, which runs through Creek Park and carries 60 passengers, was launched to mark the occasion.