Dr Shaikh Sultan meets kids during a tour of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival.
Sharjah: His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah, has ordered the allocation of Dh2.5 million towards the purchase of books from participating publishers at the ongoing edition of the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2018).
The books to be purchased will be selected from the latest publications brought by 134 publishers hailing from 18 Arab and foreign countries participating in SCRF 2018.
Ahmad Al Ameri, SBA chairman, said: “This is a festival tradition and has come back again this year with a view to furthering the vision and efforts of Shaikh Sultan to develop children’s curiosity and love for books — the most valuable sources of knowledge and creativity known to humankind. Through this initiative, we seek to spark the imagination of young readers, and develop their intellect by giving them access to the latest in literature, fiction, science, technology and arts through books by renowned authors from around the world.”
Al Ameri added: “The move also reaffirms His Highness’s eagerness to establish Sharjah as a child-friendly city, an objective for which responsible state entities are working concertedly. Sharjah is well known for an environment conducive to the holistic growth of children. Books play a major role in instilling positive values in the youth and contributes to building generations who are learned, empathetic and humane.”
A special committee is tasked with the process of selecting books based on a set of criteria, which will be in compliance with the needs of public libraries and schools in the emirate. The committee will lay a special focus on language integrity, quality of the publications, their topicality, and the content’s compatibility’s with the Arabic and Islamic traditions.
The book buying initiative of Shaikh Sultan during SCRF and the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) have enriched the emirate’s libraries, which are a preferred destination for students and researchers across the UAE and the region.
The 10th edition of SCRF is being held under the theme ‘Your future … Just a Book Away’, and concludes on Saturday.
