Sheikh Mohammed announces ‘year of reading’ to solve crisis

This content was originally posted in 7DAYS UAE website at: Sheikh Mohammed announces ‘year of reading’ to solve crisis The government has said 2016 will be the ‘year of reading’, as part of efforts to address a literature “crisis” in the Arab world. HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, announced the initiative yesterday. “We have a reading crisis in the Arab world,” he wrote in a tweet. “We have to push the younger generation to read if we are to form a path of growth and knowledge.” The average reading time for an Arab child is just six minutes per year compared with 12,000 minutes in Western countries, according to a report by the Arab Thought Foundation’s Arab Report for Cultural Development in 2012. “The scientists, researchers and innovators that will lead the future will not come from nowhere. “We have to create them on the basis of the love for reading and a passion for knowledge and curiosity,” said Sheikh Mohammed. Next year will also see the development of a national framework that seeks to produce a generation of readers, and enhance the country’s position as a capital for culture and knowledge, national news agency WAM reported. “We are preparing a comprehensive national framework to bring about behavioural change in our society and produce a generation of readers. We aim to make the UAE a capital of knowledge,” said Sheikh Mohammed. The announcement comes under the direction of HH Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the UAE president. “Reading opens minds and enhances tolerance, openness and interaction… it also builds a civilised nation that is not extremist and rigid,” said Sheikh Khalifa. The UAE cabinet has ordered the setting up of a committee tasked with overseeing the organising of the reading activities throughout the year. Also announced was the launch of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award, to encourage more innovation into acquiring, growing and transferring knowledge around the world. It will be handed out every December to individuals, public and private companies deemed to have fulfilled that goal. wafa.issa@7days.ae Read the original story at: Sheikh Mohammed announces ‘year of reading’ to solve crisis