7-year-old Syrian girl wins Arab Reading Challenge

His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, has crowned 7-year-old Syrian Sham Al Bakour as the Arab Reading champion.

She was awarded a prize of AED1,000,000.

Adam Al Qassimi from Tunisia came in second place, taking home AED 100,000, while Rashid Al Khatib from Jordan ranked third with prize money worth AED70,000.

As many as 22 million students from 92,000 schools, participated in the sixth session of the largest Arab competition.

"Our precious Arabic language is in the safe hands of the millions of Arab students and the thousands of volunteers that spare no effort to make this Arab literacy initiative a success," Sheikh Mohammed highlighted at the award ceremony that was held at Dubai Opera in front of an audience of more than 2,000, which included 360 national and community champions.

His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of The Executive Council of Dubai, honoured the national winners from across the Arab world for exceptional achievement. 

. @HHShkMohd crowns winners of Arab Reading Challenge pic.twitter.com/JTQdZrjChT

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) November 10, 2022

The Community Champion Award went to Nada Al Satri from Belgium, with a prize of AED100,000, while Marwa Al Bakri from Spain won second place, taking home a prize of AED70,000. Nadia Al Bahnasi from Austria won third place, taking home AED30,000.

The Al Mokhtar Gazoulit School from Morocco won the Best School Award and a prize of AED1 million, out of more than 92,000 schools that participated in the sixth edition of the Arab Reading Challenge. More than 28,000 schools from Egypt; 24,000 schools from Saudi Arabia; 15,000 schools from Algeria; 10,000 schools from Morocco; 5,000 schools from Tunisia; and 4,000 schools from Jordan participated in the sixth edition of the Challenge.

The Al Tarbiyah Al Ahliyah Intermediate and Secondary Private Schools from Saudi Arabia won second place, receiving a prize of AED500,000, while the Al Ahed Al Zaher Secondary School from Bahrain came in third winning a prize of AED300,000.

Noor Mohammad Al Jboor from Jordan won the Outstanding Supervisor Award and a prize of AED300,000. Abdulrahman Al Harthi from Saudi Arabia came in second, winning a prize of AED100,000. The third place was awarded to Hanin Al Abdallah from Syria with a prize of AED70,000.

.@HHShkMohd crowns Sham Al Bakour, a 7-year-old Syrian girl who won the title of the champion of the @ArabReading Challenge in its sixth session. pic.twitter.com/4ai1GDjrfw

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) November 10, 2022

The initiative, launched in 2015, aims to encourage Arabic-speaking school students to read at least 50 books per school year.

So far, the Arab Reading Challenge has attracted the participation of nearly 79 million students.