Emirati university student gets a special message from Sheikh Mohammed for graduation

Dubai: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice- President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, took the time to tweet a heart-warming message for Emirati student Fatima Ahmad Bin Bakhit Al Nuaimi, who graduated from university on Wednesday May 28.

On his official Twitter account, Sheikh Mohammed wrote: “He tweeted: "A kiss on my daughter’s head in 2016 for winning the Arab Reading Challenge. Yesterday, she graduated from New York University Abu Dhabi. Congratulations to my daughter Fatima Al Nuaimi. With you, our country will always get better ... the country gets better by reading, and improves with knowledge."

Accompanied with the caption were two photos of Fatima side by side; one taken back in 2016 when she won the UAE round of the Arab Reading Challenge, and the other of her graduation from university.

Sheikh Mohammed launched the Arab Reading Challenge as part of the efforts of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives foundation in 2015 to encourage one million students to read 50 million books in one year. The results exceeded all expectations, with more than 3.5 million students reading 150 million books in a year.

Since its launch, the Arab Reading Challenge features several qualification stages to select the Arab Reading Champion among students who read and summarized 50 books. Students start competing at class level, then school level, proceeding to the level of the educational district, directorate or governorate, leading up to selecting the top 10 students from each country before filtering down the national winners. The semi-finalists partake further evaluations before competing for the grand prize that takes place every October in Dubai.