UAE | General
Children in bid to read one million books
The Million Book Challenge encourages pupils in Dubai to collectively read one million books in two weeks. A book will be donated to underprivileged countries for each book read by a Dubai pupil.
- By Siham Al Najami, Staff Reporter
- Published: 23:43 November 4, 2008
- Thousands of children are actively participating in the initiative to read a million books.
- Image Credit: Supplied Picture
Dubai: Schools have started reading activities to break the record of the "Million Book" initiative launched recently by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.
The Million Book Challenge encourages pupils in Dubai to collectively read one million books in two weeks. A book will be donated to underprivileged countries for each book read by a Dubai pupil.
The distribution of books is being managed by the global organisation, Room to Read, and Arab NGOs.
Read and rise
"Read and rise" initiative by Omar Bin Al Khatib Model School intends to select five pupils from every class which will total to around 120 pupils to participate while offering summaries and analysis on the books they read.
"Nowadays reading is becoming less and less among children and it is taking a different form. The youth main source of reading is from the Internet and magazine which is not the perfect source to enrich their knowledge," said Ahmad Al Mulla, headmaster of the school.
Its another "excellent initiative," said David Cook, Headmaster of Repton School Dubai. More than 10,500 pupils are expected to take part in the process and will be part of the readings required in the curriculum as well as during the reading week, said Cook.
Dubai National school is encouraging their pupils to read 10 books for every child expecting around 1,400 pupils to participate.
Burj Dubai to map growth
The world's tallest building, Burj Dubai will chart the progress of the Million Book Challenge initiated by Dubai Cares, it was announced on Tuesday.
Dubai Cares announced that it will use Burj Dubai to symbolically represent the number of books read by the students in Dubai, making it easy for residents of Dubai to follow the children's progress on the building's facade.
The Million Book Challenge invites emirate-based school students from the ages of 3-14 years to collectively read 1,000,000 books in two weeks.
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