Reading Reality and Future Foresight Ministers of Education From the UAE, Lebanon, and Tunisia Convene at the Knowledge Summit 2016
Dubai, December 6, 2016-- Reading plays an integral duty in promoting society and preserving the national identification, concluded a panel of experts talking about the realities and future of reading on day two of the Knowledge Summit 2016, organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation(MBRF) on December 5-7, 2016, at the Grand Hyatt Dubai hotel.
Birthing the theme "Knowledge ... Present and Future", the three-day Summit is held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as well as under the directives of H.H. Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of MBRF. The Summit unites prominent ministers, executives, and intellectuals to talk about ways to improve the production and dissemination of knowledge.
The session featured H.E. Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi, UAE Cabinet Member and Minister of State for Higher Education; H.E. Elias Bou Saab, Lebanese Minister of Education and College; and Professor Noureddine Selmi, Tunisian Deputy Minister of College and Scientific Research.
Professor Selmi said: "Reading - and consequently language proficiency - plays a pivotal role in enhancing nationwide identity while still allowing us to be available to other cultures. We must encourage children to start reading as early as possible because if they could master their mother tongue, they'll be much better prepared to learn various other languages. On the other side, if their efficiency in their mother tongue is weak, they will look to other cultures and will certainly no more be a reliable element of society. We must make use of modern technology to enable our children and encourage them to read."
Meanwhile, H.E. Dr. Ahmed Belhoul Al Falasi highlighted the crucial role that the school plays in constructing the child's character and creating his/her reading skills, seeing as children spend 6 to eight hrs a day at their schools.
" Having a library at the school that includes extracurricular publications motivates a youngster to find out more," said Dr. Al Falasi, lauding the Arab Reading Obstacle, launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, as the biggest Arab project to urge reading among students.
" Reading is the very foundation of education itself," stated Elias Bou Saab, for his part, keeping in mind that we are presently undertaking a shift where students in the Arab World are planning to receive information in English rather than Arabic. H.E. Bou Saab applauded the Arab Reading Challenge, exposing that the Ministry developed a special team to act on it in Lebanon's public and private schools. "We should enhance the Arabic language in our societies," he included; "to attain this, we have to simplify our curricula and upgrade it to be compatible with today's rapidly changing world."
