Shaikh Mohammed lauds pioneering efforts of 45 residents, including expats

Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and other dignitaries during the ceremony held to honour 45 UAE Pioneers

His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, and Ruler of Dubai, honoured 45 Emiratis and expats who were recognised as UAE Pioneers and have contributed to the 2016 Year of Reading initiative.
In December 2015, the UAE Cabinet declared 2016 as the Year of Reading, under the directives of President, His Highness Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, who said: "We direct to declare 2016 as the Reading Year because reading is the basic skill for a new generation of scientists, intellectuals and innovators."

The award ceremony, which took place in UAE's Capital on Monday afternoon, saw Royals, Ministers, Federal National Council members and hundreds of guests from organisations across the nation.

Honorees spoke to Khaleej Times about their unique initiatives, which have helped improve the passion for reading among the children in UAE.

Safia Al Shehi

Safia Al Shehi from Abu Dhabi Media received an award for her television programme 'Abu Dhabi Reads' that focuses on education.

"I am so happy today," said the 32-year-old mother of two. "I'm happy the programme has made an impact on viewers, because it focuses on all the Arab artists, whether they are writers, poets or musicians. The UAE government has created ambitious initiatives that always think ahead of the future, and reading is definitely important for all our futures."

Moza Fikri

Moza Fikri, Digital Media Managing Editor at Al Bayan, was also proud to receive the award. "We were among the very few media entities in the UAE that exposed many projects on the digital and social media platform. We help bridge between the print and digital media, to push the reading initiative through an interactive way."

Marwa Al Aqroubi

Marwa Al Aqroubi, president of the UAE Board on Books for Young People (UAEBBY), highlighted that receiving the distinguished award will help push her to spread greater awareness on reading. "We believe that every child should have the right to read. That is why this board was established by Shaikha Bidour bint Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, who is the chair of UAEBBY." The non-profit organisation has created various initiatives, workshops and programmes that brought children and books under one umbrella.

Sami Al Rayami

Sami Al Rayami, Editor in Chief of Al Emart Al Yom, was also awarded during Monday's ceremony.

"This is a critical period of time to spread awareness on education and reading within the Arab world. Spreading knowledge is key, and what is also important is to continue this initiative, not just for 2016, but throughout the future."

Huda Sraieb

Another winner, Huda Sraieb, head of the Arabic Department in the Australian International School in Sharjah, said: "Our school heavily supports the teaching of the Arabic language, because we believe that you can not talk about identity without talking about the language. Reading is not just a yearly initiative, it is a lifetime one, and we encourage our children to read and write their own stories everyday."

jasmine@khaleejtimes.com 

• Abu Dhabi