The Arab Reading Challenge is a big win for arab literacy

Transcript

00:00The Arabic Reading Challenge recently took place in the UAE and saw youth participation

00:09from 15 countries, including the UAE, to read at least 50 books in Arabic during one academic

00:14year, making it the largest initiative of its kind to ever have taken place in the region.

00:18We are looking forward to make the reading one of the aims that all students are looking

00:25for and achieve this amount of books which are read by students. We are talking about

00:32more than 100 million books read by our students all over the Arabic world and some other countries.

00:40We are now achieving the aim and we are looking forward for many other aims too this year.

00:47The finalists were excited to make it to this stage of the competition, which will award

00:50the winner a US$150,000 prize. I would give them for poor people and I would buy books

00:57for them and give it to them so they will read more. I think I will use it for my next

01:03education and I will use it for my family to be happy. I thank for God so I may pay

01:10for poor people with some money and also I will give my teachers and everyone who helped

01:25me in this competition. Actually my parents told me that I shouldn't spend a lot of money

01:30from it. They told me now my money is a little bit small. I should wait until I grow up and

01:36I do something really beneficial for the society. So I don't think I'll spend a lot

01:42of it now. I should keep it.

01:44At the last event of the challenge, the finalists were asked a question by a panel of judges

01:48with one minute to answer and impress the audience. The audience's vote accounted for

01:5210% of the rating system alongside the judges' votes and previous tests. After all the challenges

01:57were complete, the judges chose 7-year-old Farah Jaloud from Algeria as the lucky winner.

02:03Launched in September 2015 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice

02:08President and Prime Minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, the Arab Reading Challenge

02:12aims to encourage 1 million students in the Arab world to read 50 million books each year.

02:16Logan Fish for Gulf News.