The National Archives opens its corner in KidZania Dubai at the end of this year
UAE, Dubai: 25ndSeptember 2014:The National Archives of the United Arab Emirates signed with the children's world city of education and entertainment KidZania Dubai an agreement to allocate a corner to the National Archives in KidZania. This corner will open at the end of this year, thus the National Archives of the UAE's will be the first archives in the world to have a branch in KidZania.
The Corner of the National Archives in KidZania will inform the children about important aspects in the history of the United Arab Emirates in a manner that combines the practical and the theoretical aspects together in order to promote national values in them. The corners identity will be derived from UAE heritage; it will resemble the majestic fort Qasr al Hosn, in which the National Archives was established in 1968 following the directives of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.
The National Archives by its participation in KidZania aims to strengthen national identity, and to acquaint the children and their parents with its tasks and activities, and to create a solid interactive experience for them, and to enrich and support the curriculum of national education.
About the importance of the corner of the National Archives in KidZania, His Excellency Dr. Abdullah Al-Reyes, Director General of the National Archives said: As the directives of His Highness Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the National Archives urge to inform the new generation about UAE civilization, culture and heritage and its greatest leaders, to deepen the feeling of national identity, to promote loyalty to homeland and to prepare the good citizens capable of giving generously - we in the National Archives spare no efforts in fulfilling this national mission, and as KidZania Dubai city is considered a meeting place of hundreds of thousands of school students in the UAE and from the Gulf therefore we find in it a suitable arena for promoting identity and allegiance among the children, and at the same time we can deliver the message of the National Archives about our deep-rooted history, and prosperous present in
its finest output to children coming from abroad. This will strengthen the position of the National Archives as a partner in national education of generations; so the supervision of the corner will be entrusted to competent personnel in the fields of archiving and education in order to be able to attract children visiting the corner, and to let them achieve greater benefit and fun.
It is noteworthy that the National Archives strives to promote awareness among the children by opening the field of employment for the children visiting the corner in many of the specialized archiving professions notably: an Archivist, in which the child will sort, classify and scan scattered paper documents in order to preserve them in special archiving programs, a Document Restorer, in which the child will know about the restoration of documents and their importance and value, and the need to save them from wear and tear by the help of special electronic restoration programs, an Oral Historian, in which the child will know how to record history by carrying out direct interviews, or by listening to training recordings, and by writing down answers related to the training recordings. Visiting children will be trying specialized clothing and tools for restoration.
After signing the agreement, His Excellency Mr. Andrew Hearn General Manger of Kidzania accompanied his Excellency Dr. Abdulla Al- Reyes general manger of the national archives in a tour through Kidzania and its facilities, where he gave a detailed explanation about what it offers.
