Ministry of Education Showcases 'Child Reads' Initiative in Dubai

The Ministry of Education showcased its experience with the “Child Reads” initiative before representatives of Arab countries participating in the “Arab Reading Challenge” in Dubai, in the presence of Saed Al-Attar, Head of the Media Office of the Government of the United Arab Emirates and CEO of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives. The presentation drew widespread Arab praise and interest in the initiative and its educational objectives.

In a statement to KUNA, the Ministry said the presentation of the initiative, launched under the directives of Minister of Education M. Syed Jalal Al-Tabatabai, was well received by the coordinators of the Arab Reading Challenge and representatives of participating countries, with several countries expressing their desire to adopt the Kuwaiti experience, implement it, and benefit from its execution mechanisms.

The Ministry clarified that the presentation was made at the request of Mohammed Al-Qarqawi, Secretary-General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, following the Arab Reading Challenge management’s review of the Kuwaiti initiative, its educational objectives, and its interest in enabling Arab countries to learn about its methodology and its applicability in their educational environments.

It added that Abdullah Al-Barak, General Coordinator of the Arab Reading Challenge in Kuwait, delivered an introductory presentation covering the vision and objectives of the “Child Reads” initiative, which aim to instill a love of reading in children from early age stages by using storytelling as an educational tool to develop pre-reading skills, enhance linguistic proficiency, and strengthen listening, comprehension, expression, and imagination abilities.

The presentation included an overview of the Ministry’s experience in implementing the initiative and featured examples of stories specifically prepared to achieve its educational objectives. Yousef Hussein, the content monitoring officer in the initiative’s storytelling team, discussed the methodology for preparing, writing, and developing the storytelling content.

The Ministry noted that the initiative’s storytelling content can be adapted to align with the cultural and educational specifics of each country, while maintaining the targeted educational goals and core skills.

It emphasized that the Kuwaiti experience received praise and attention from Arab country representatives, who commended the initiative’s content, educational objectives, and implementation mechanisms. Several countries expressed their desire to adopt the initiative in coordination with the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education and to benefit from its expertise in this field.

The Ministry revealed that stories from the “Child Reads” initiative would be made available on the official website of the Arab Reading Challenge, allowing children across Arab countries to access them. This move aims to broaden the reach of Kuwaiti educational storytelling content and support efforts to promote a reading culture among the youth.

It stressed the importance of exchanging successful educational experiences and disseminating outstanding educational practices, thereby enhancing joint Arab cooperation and contributing to the development of educational systems and the linguistic and cognitive skills of emerging generations.

Abdullah Al-Barak, General Coordinator of the Arab Reading Challenge in Kuwait, told KUNA that presenting the “Child Reads” initiative before Arab country representatives offers an opportunity to highlight Kuwait’s experience in developing educational initiatives and fostering children’s linguistic skills.

He explained that the initiative targets kindergarten students by using stories and interactive activities to instill a love of reading and develop linguistic skills, as well as listening, comprehension, and expression abilities.

Al-Barak affirmed that the Arab praise for the initiative and the interest of several countries in adopting its experience reflect the success of Kuwait’s efforts in this field. He noted that making “Child Reads” stories available on the Arab Reading Challenge website will help broaden their reach and enhance Arab educational cooperation.