UAE schools welcome national reading campaign

Dubai:

Schools in the UAE have welcomed ‘The UAE Reads’ campaign, believing that promoting the culture of reading will have a significant positive impact on UAE’s youth.

His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced on Monday the launch of ‘The UAE Reads’ campaign, during a retreat that brought together 100 influential Emirati figures to draw up a 10-year strategy to solidify reading as a tradition in UAE society.

Schools interviewed by Gulf News welcomed this initiative, saying that it will have a great impact.

“A 2013 study by the Institute of Education in London found that children who read for pleasure made more progress in maths, vocabulary and spelling between the ages of 10 and 16 than those who rarely read, which is why Shaikh Mohammad’s reading campaign is such a good idea,” said Micheal Lambert, headmaster of Dubai College.

He said promoting reading is especially important with the proliferation of electronic gizmos such as smartphones and games consoles. It is easy to be critical of new technology and the impact this has on reading.

“As educators, however, we need to be aware that our students are growing up in the information age where these technologies are the norm. This is why we have chosen to embrace these technologies in order to support reading within the school. We now offer e-books for hire, in addition to traditional paper-based books,” he said.

Lambert stressed that parents play a big role in instilling the culture of reading.

“Parents who read with their children and read themselves are far more likely to engender an interest in reading in their offspring than those who spend their time flicking through social media on their iPhones or spend hours browsing the internet. In all this we must remember that parents are one of the biggest stakeholders to success in fostering a culture of reading,” he said.

Clive Pierrepont, director of Communications of Taaleem schools, said any initiative that gets children reading deserves praise.

“The Year of Reading’ has brought a sharp focus to this vital skill and has enabled Taaleem schools to further forge partnerships with parents to reinforce the value of reading as an everyday activity wherever and whenever the opportunity arises, whether at school or at home. The habit of reading must be modelled by adults so that it becomes a lifelong habit. Our Jumeirah Baccalaureate School has set each student a target of reading a minimum 50 books this year and, with their natural competitiveness, many students have already surpassed this target,” he said.

Pierrepont also said Taaleem is proud to host the next Living Arabic — What Works conference, in partnership with Dubai’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA). Taking place at Taaleem’s Uptown School on January 23.

“The latest instalment of the conference will focus on bringing the Arabic language to life through the theme Culture, Communication and Creativity,” he said.

Sir Christopher Stone, senior vice-president, Education, GEMS Education, said, “The leadership of the nation has a very clear vision for education in the UAE and declaring 2016 as the Year of Reading is an example of this.

“ GEMS Education and our schools fully support this laudable initiative. Many of our schools have already begun to work on initiatives like the Arab Reading Challenge, read aloud programmes, spelling bees, teaching children to read — parent engagement sessions, phonics sessions for parents, and guided reading sessions led by parent volunteers, all of which further emphasise the importance of reading,” he said.