Dubai: More than 2.5 million students from five Arab countries are competing to be awarded as the region’s top reader.
The semi-final of second Arab Reading Challenge (ARC) will see the millions of school-age participants whittled down to just ten finalists.
First announced last year by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the challenge aims to fix record-low levels of reading and literacy among Arab youth.
The first five countries to submit their best candidates for evaluation are Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman and Lebanon.
The other ten countries taking part are Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Palestine, Sudan, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and the UAE.
Newly introduced this year, the ARC Diamond Round is a competition reserved for last year’s top ten winners from each country. This new round challenges competitors to read 75 books within the academic year.
“The objective of this challenge is to realise Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid’s vision to empower young Arabs with knowledge and hope,” said ARC Secretary-General Najla Al Shamsi.
In Egypt, two million students participated in the challenge this year. A total of 27 supervisors and 11 schools were nominated, along with the top ten finalists and the finalist from last year for the ARC Diamond Round.
In Jordan, more than 360,000 students competed and the top ten were nominated for the third phase, along with 12 supervisors and 10 schools.
In Oman, 21,000 students, six supervisors and one school competed. In Lebanon, 14,000 students, six supervisors and two schools made it to the third-round nominations.
The winners at the countrywide level will be announced on April 17 at a ceremony to be held under the patronage of the Minister of Education and the ARC Secretary-General.
All participating countries will submit their final nominations, including the finalists for the ARC Diamond Round, before the end of April.
At this point, each participating country will announce their top student, supervisor and school, who will represent them at the fourth and final phase of the competition.
In October last year, a seven-year-old Algerian schoolboy was announced the champion of the first Arab Reading Challenge. He won Dh550,000, to be handed out in scholarships and cash.
Organisers for this year’s challenge have not yet announced the prizes.
