Arab Reading Challenge

The “Arab Reading Challenge” is the largest Arab initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, to encourage reading among students in the Arab world. The challenge takes the form of a reading competition in Arabic, in which students from first grade to twelfth grade from participating schools across the Arab world take part. It begins in September each year and ends in March of the following year. During this period, participating students progress through five stages, with each stage requiring them to read ten books and summarize them in challenge passports. After completing the reading and summaries, the qualifying stages begin according to approved criteria, conducted at the school level, educational regions, and then at the country level, culminating in the final rounds held annually in Dubai in October.

Objectives of the Challenge: The Arab Reading Challenge aims to cultivate a love for reading among children and youth in the Arab world, making it an ingrained habit in their lives that enhances their curiosity and passion for knowledge while broadening their horizons. Reading also helps develop students’ skills in analytical thinking, criticism, and expression, while promoting values of tolerance and intellectual and cultural openness by introducing them to the ideas of writers, thinkers, and philosophers from diverse backgrounds and experiences across various cultural realms.