Where there is a will there is a way

It is unquestionable the level of importance the UAE Government places with regard to any aspect relating to the field of education.

The authorities have been consistently taking the appropriate measures to ensure that the highest standard is provided in the country. And it is perhaps the basis of this conviction - that education has a role in building the future of nations - that has turned into the driving force behind an initiative as grand and as ambitious as the Dubai Cares campaign.

The campaign, launched in September by His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, aims at providing education for more than a million children worldwide. The campaign has been adopted as part of the global drive to help the world's poorest countries in providing education for its citizens.

The initiative is part of the UN Millennium Development Goals to provide primary education to every child by 2015.

Public contributions that have poured in reached Dh1.7 billion which increased to Dh3.4 billion after Shaikh Mohammad's generous donation.

What is significant though about this campaign is not only the ability to accumulate such an amount in a few months, but also the means through which it succeeded in achieving it.

That the UAE has become engaged in a charity drive is not new. That the public has chosen to be active and participatory in the drive is also not new. Neither is the fact that Shaikh Mohammad has decided to become part of it, alongside his sons and daughters.

The UAE recognises very well how critical education is to the national development of any nation. And as such, the campaign comes as a reflection of such a belief.