Category: News

The final ceremony for the sixth Arab Reading Challenge (ARC) is scheduled on November 10 at Dubai Opera. The announcement was made by the UAE Vice-President announced on Friday.

In a tweet, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, said: “Six years ago, we have launched the Arab Reading Challenge, believing that the path to civilisation starts with reading… Next Thursday, we celebrate 22 million students from 92,000 schools who participated in the sixth session of the largest Arab competition.”

Since the ARC was launched in 2015, it has attracted nearly 79 million students — and for the sixth edition, it marked a whopping 536 per cent growth in the number of participants, compared to the first edition.

The Arab Reading Champion will receive a valuable prize to support them in broadening their knowledge and pursuing greater academic achievements to further improve their capabilities and share their experiences with peers.

Mohammad Al Gergawi, secretary-general of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, said that Dubai — which will host the closing ceremony of the Arab Reading Challenge on November 10 — will remain the destination for all innovators and pioneers who aspire to a better future.

“The Arab Reading Challenge is a success story and an exemplary model of meaningful and effective initiatives that spread knowledge, empower communities, build the future, and support the global education community,” he said.

The Best School Award

The final ceremony will include the announcement of the winner of the Best School Award in the sixth edition of the Arab Reading Challenge, after being selected among 92,583 participating schools.

The winning school will be recognized for its efforts and receive a prize to boost its ability to encourage students to make reading a habit and increase their knowledge.

Outstanding Supervisor

The ceremony will also include the announcement of the Outstanding Supervisor. Selected out of 126,061 supervisors who contribute to empowering students, the winner will receive a prize to support their efforts in empowering future generations with reading skills.

Community Champions Award

At the closing ceremony of the Arab Reading Challenge, the community champion will also be announced out of 23 Arab students living in foreign countries, with participations from different non-Arab countries.

Other prizes

The Arab Reading Challenge offers a prize of Dh1 million for the Best School, Dh500,000 for the first champion, Dh300,000 for the Outstanding Supervisor, and Dh100,000 for the Community Champion.

Selection criteria

Those qualified for the final round were selected according to comprehensive criteria, after implementing integrated electronic rounds by the judging panels. All entries were evaluated according to the standards adopted since the launch of the challenge.

The biggest challenge in its history

The number of participants in a single edition of the Arab Reading Challenge continues to increase year-on-year. Approximately 3.5 million students participated in the first edition, with the number doubling in the second edition to more than seven million students. As the third edition allowed entries from outside the Arab world, the number of participants came close to 10.5 million. The number of participants in the fourth edition of the challenge exceeded 13.5 million students from 49 countries, while the number of participants in the fifth edition reached more than 20 million students. This sixth edition saw 22.27 million participants. The growth rate of the number of participating students in the sixth edition, compared to the first edition, reached 536% – a significant increase that reflects the growing impact of the challenge in encouraging reading in Arabic.

Students at Delhi Private School, Dubai developed Locus App  that aimed to boost efficiency at school, helping the KHDA inspectors and staff in navigating through the massive school building.

Aadvait Hirde who is a student at the school and a team member who developed the Locus app, says “We set up a network of 37 QR codes across each block, one present at the entrance of each staircase. These codes, upon scanning and the desired destination being entered, find out the exact user location following which an AR and minimap line is rendered to the navigation target. This in turn enables indoor pathfinding on the campus.”

He adds, “This app was created by my colleague Aditya Kamat as well. This app proved to be one of the biggest boons during the KHDA inspections as it promptly guided the inspectors to smoothly transit from one block to another. This app provides them with the route and specific directions to reach their destination.”

Similarly, Classroom Operation and Punctuality or COP is a teacher punctuality tracking app. The app which functions as an auditing system monitors if a teacher is punctual and adheres to the best teaching practices in the classroom. An instantaneous report is sent to the respective supervisor in case of any anomaly.

The app, which was initially developed by Amey Deotale, an alumnus of DPSD was later improvised and added multiple features to the app.

In another innovation led by the school is DPSD Hub (website) which is a digital repository that consolidates details about all past and upcoming events and provides students with direct access to this information.

DPSD HUB

Avi Srivastava one of the team members of the DPSDHub opines, “Students can sign up on www.dpsdhub.online using their email address. Upon logging in, students can register for ongoing events at the click of a button and gain instant access to the respective chat groups. They can communicate with House Captains and prefects and not miss out on the selections and events posted on House Clubs. They can also access a forum that bridges the gap between the members of all grades, as they share their thoughts on matters pertaining to the school and culturally relevant topics.

During the inspection, the website that was also created by Jaiaakash Gopalakrishnan, Samruddh Om Bahanwal, and Dhruv Mohanty enabled the overall operational efficiency of the school, considerably reducing time, effort and materials required to get things done.

He adds, “The website also allows students to reserve selected food items before they run out at the canteen and book a cybercafé slot in the CS lab. Students can also gain exclusive playground access through a points system that rewards the most active members. The DPSD Hub eliminates the hassles of council members going to various classes to recruit for upcoming events. It also mitigates the information overload on saturated event-related WhatsApp groups and deems a single website as the hub for ‘all things DPS Dubai’.”

The school’s Principal and Director, Rashmi Nandkeolyar commented on the innovative quotient of the students, “We are delighted at the innovation and learning of our students, who not only feel a deep sense of belonging to our school, but are committed to a life-long journey to make a difference in the world by disruptive thinking.”

Thousand Wonders of Italy, the latest book in the Geronimo series has been printed in major languages of the world including Arabic alongside the versions in Italian, French, Spanish and English. The most recent translations are in Portuguese, Bulgarian, Chinese and Ukrainian. This move helps young arabic readers to enjoy the book too.

Outlining the reasons why Geronimo Stilton resonated so much with children across the world, Elisabetta Dami, creator of the popular children’s storybook series Geronimo Stilton explained that’s its ethics appealed to all.

“The reason why Geronimo Stilton is loved all over the world by children is that its values are universal and will help children become better adults,” said Elisabetta Dami, while speaking at the at the 41st Sharjah International Book Fair.

It’s said this volume will also be distributed in schools and libraries across 15 countries in the North African and Middle Eastern region.

In a discussion with Ida Zilio-Grandi, director of the Italian Cultural Institute in Abu Dhabi, the Italian children’s writer analysed the success of the bold mouse journalist Geronimo at a talk titled, ‘Wonders of Italy’.

 AlDhabi AlMheiri, an Eight year old Emirati girl has been crowned by Guinness World Records as the ‘youngest person to publish a bilingual book (female)’ . She was just about to turn eight when she published her book ‘I Had an Idea’ on July 7, 2022. The book has already sold more than 1,000 copies.

At the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) she stands next to her parents in her bookstore and publishing house, Rainbow Chimney, and talks eloquently and confidently about her book and her dreams.

Her journey as a writer started at SIBF 2021 when she attended a publishing conference with her parents. In the conference, Sheikha Bodour Al Qasimi, President of the International Publishers Association (IPA), asked if anyone had any questions and AlDhabi’s hand went up.

“I had no idea what she was going to ask but she said: How do I become something big like you?” said her mother, Mouza Al Darmaki. She said that Sheikha Bodour then asked her to come on stage and asked her why she wanted to become something big.

“She said: ‘So that I can share your thoughts about publishing with the world’,” said Mouza adding that Sheikha Bodour told her then that she was the youngest Emirati publisher and that maybe someday she will come and speak on this stage.

It was that encounter that made her want to write her book in which she talks about her own journey with Rainbow Chimney – the bookstore that sells fun and engaging books for all children.

She said that when she visited her grandparents, she noticed how the entire family spends most of their times on tablets and how there was no interaction between them and how that didn’t sit well with her.

“So, I took boxes filled with toys and books to my grandparents’ house during our next visit. I made sure I had coloured the boxes because once you see something colourful, you forget about everything else and you look at it. When my cousins wanted to open the boxes I told them that the only condition is to leave their tablets and they did,” she said, adding that since then no one touches their electronic devices when the family gets together.

She also said that she made sure the boxes had books and not only toys. “I mean, if its only toys then what’s the point. It’s not wise to do that.”

AlDhabi credits her parents for nurturing her love for reading. “Whenever I wrote something that I learnt from a book, I would write it out and my father would frame it for me.” Her parents encouraged her to write in English and Arabic and to think out of the box.

Her mother said that she read to AlDhabi from when she was just six months old – mainly books about space and the universe. “I felt that I wanted to widen her horizon from a very early age. I knew she was different as she knew the names of the planets from a young age,” said Mouza. At the age 3, AlDhabi started reading and by for-and-a-half years, she was already writing.

Her mother also nurtured her creative spirit saying that the hour preceding bedtime was important for them, as they spoke freely like friends. Puppet shows would also be hosted with her mother as the audience.

AlDhabi’s dream is to encourage all children – especially children with autism and children of determination to write and to express themselves so that they can tell their stories. “Children may look different from the outside but inside they’re just the same,” she said.

A new research has revealed that Half of schoolchildren who do not pass their maths and English GCSEs were already judged to be behind on their education at the age of five.

A fifth of all students in England, or around 100,000 pupils each year, do not achieve the grade 4 pass grade in both English language and maths.

“The forgotten fifth of pupils leaving school lacking basic English and maths skills is one of education’s biggest scandals,” Professor Lee Elliot Major, co-author of the research paper, said.

Responding to the findings, shadow education secretary Bridget Phillipson accused the Conservatives of “failing our children” by making early years support “increasingly unavailable and unaffordable”.

The government has set out a plan for 90 per cent of children to reach the expected standards in reaching, writing and maths by 2030, a spokesperson for the Department of Education said.

Researchers from the University of Exeter and UCL used data from the UK Millennium Cohort Study to map the educational trajectories of 11,524 students born in England in 2000-2001, who then went on to take their GCSEs in 2016 or 2017.

They presented their findings on Thursday in a working paper, which has not yet been peer-reviewed.

The academics found that 18 per cent, or a fifth, of teenagers failed to achieve a grade 4 in both English language and maths. Of those students, just under half (48 per cent) had not reached expected levels of numeracy and literacy at the age of five.

More than one in four of them, 28 per cent, had been assessed as “delayed” in their learning at the age of three.

Since their first survey when they were nine months old, the children were followed up six times between the ages of three and 17 – providing regular assessments of how they were doing in school.

The paper found that children who were assessed as not being “school ready” at age three, and who were below expected standard levels at age five and age 16, often had similar family backgrounds.

At each age, children identifying as struggling were twice as likely to be born to a teenage mother (13 per cent compared to 5 per cent) and to be living with a single parent (24 per cent to 10 per cent). They were also three times as likely to be living in a workless household (33 per cent to 11 per cent).

These children were also three times as likely to have parents with no or poor education qualifications. Their home was also more likely to be rented, overcrowded, damp, or situated in poorer areas, compared to their peers.

They were also less likely to be female (39 per cent to 53 per cent) and were less likely to be a firstborn child (37 per cent to 44 per cent). Children who were born in the summer months were also more likely to do worse academically, with five-year-old underachievers twice as likely to be a summer baby than not.

Early years educational disadvantage was associated with being Black, Asian or minority ethnic and living in a home where an additional language (other than English) was spoken. However, this setback was reversed as the children grew up.

Not attaining a grade 4 or higher GCSE in English language and maths was associated with being white and only English being spoken in the home.

The forgotten fifth of pupils leaving school lacking basic English and maths skills is one of education’s biggest scandals

In a bid to help parents get more involved in the kids activites on the photo sharing platform, Instagram has announced rollout of its parental supervision tools in India

The platform is also introducing a Family Center, a new place for parents and guardians to access supervision tools and resources from leading experts.
The move is another step from Meta to empower parents and keep young people safe online, Instagram’s statement said.

This initiative comes amid global concerns around the harmful effects of social media on young users, particularly related to body image issues and addictive nature of these apps.

“Meta has been working closely with experts, parents, guardians and young people from India, to understand the needs of parents and young people,” the statement said.

One of the biggest needs continues to be tools and resources to educate parents about digital services.

“This education would allow parents and guardians to help their teens manage their online experiences. With this context, Meta launched Parental Supervision Controls and a Family Center in the US in March this year, and is now rolling it out to India,” the statement added.

Natasha Jog, Head – Public Policy, Instagram, Facebook India (Meta), said safety of the community is of “paramount importance” for Meta.

“The supervision tools and the Family Center will add to our efforts on keeping young people safe. Our intention is to strike the right balance for young people’s desire for some autonomy when using Instagram, but also allows for supervision in a way that supports conversations between parents and young people when it is helpful,” Jog added.

The Supervision Tools on Instagram will allow parents and guardians to manage how much time young people spend on Instagram. It will help young users manage their time on Instagram by setting screen time limits and scheduling breaks during the day and week.

The tools would also allow parents to view what accounts their children follow and the accounts that follow them.

“Allows you to stay up to date with who your young person connects with on Instagram,” the statement said.

It would also enable parents to be notified when the young users in the family reports someone.

“Young people can choose to notify you if they make a report on Instagram, so you can discuss what happened together,” the statement added.

Meta will be working with Kidsstoppress.com, India’s leading and trusted discovery platform for parenting needs, to engage with parents and spread awareness of the tools.

On Instagram, parents and guardians can send invitations to their teens to initiate supervision tools. “Over the next few months we’ll roll out additional Supervision Tools and features in Family Centre,” the statement said.

Family Center includes a new education hub where parents and guardians can access resources from experts and review helpful articles, videos and tips on topics like how to talk to young people about social media. Parents can also watch video tutorials on how to use the new Supervision Tools to get the most out of the platform, the statement said.

Meta will be working with Yuvaa, a youth media and insights company, to drive awareness about these resources as well. The Center will be available in English and Hindi.

Big social media firms have drawn flak in the past over hate speech, instances of user harm, misinformation and fake news circulating on their platforms.

At times, concerns have also been flagged over digital platforms acting arbitrarily, while studies have also highlighted teen mental health effects arising from the social media phenomenon, particularly so from photo-sharing apps.

India brought in tougher IT rules last year, mandating large digital platforms (with over 50 lakh users) to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.

The government is also in the midst of formulating new social media norms that propose to give users a grievance appeal mechanism against arbitrary content moderation, inaction, or takedown decisions of big tech companies

School Finder an online tool launched by Abu Dhabi’s TAMM platform provides key details about over 536 schools. Even information about school fees are readily available on the site.

Here’s how to access and use the School Finder:

>> Open the TAMM smart app or go to the TAMM website

> In the “What are you looking for?” box, type in ‘School Finder’

>> Click on “School Finder” from the list that pops up

>> The directory will then be displayed, featuring the profiles of every school

>> Each entry also has a “Compare School” option. Users can short-list schools by ticking the box and once they click on the orange button at the bottom, information for the chosen institutions will be displayed in a chart for easier evaluation

A similar online resource was launched in Dubai earlier this year. Called the “School Fees Fact Sheet” by the emirate’s Knowledge and Human Development Authority, the guide details all the fees a school may charge in one academic year.

“Abu Dhabi Early Intervention Guide” has been launched by The Abu Dhabi Early Childhood Authority (ECA) to help families and caregivers of children with development delays or disabilities in Abu Dhabi.

The initiative has been implemented in collaboration with the Mubadala Investment Company, the Department of Community Development- Abu Dhabi, the Department of Health – Abu Dhabi, the Zayed Higher Organization for People of Determination, and the Abu Dhabi Public Health Center.

The guide is part of the ECA’s ongoing efforts to promote the welfare of children including people of determination in Abu Dhabi and enhance early detection of developmental challenges to support children receiving appropriate and timely intervention services.

Designed to support and enable children with a developmental delay or disability, the guide gives parents and caregivers key information that they need to provide children with specialised and ongoing support at an early age, as well as guidelines on the intervention services available to help children grow, develop and reach their full potential.

Such intervention addresses the health and wellbeing of children and the needs of their families by focusing on four key areas of child development – physical development, cognitive development, behavioural development, and social and emotional development.

The guide is available in both Arabic and English at the ECA’s website.

Ministry of Education announced that the Registration has opened for the Emirates Standardized Test (EmSAT) for all Grade 12 students in the UAE.

In a statement posted on Twitter, the MoE said the tests in Arabic and English languages, Mathematics and Physics, will be taken on November 13, 2022.

After registration, the students will receive a text message on their registered phone and email with the opening times of the test sessions. The tests will be conducted at various centres across the nation.

The EmSAT is a national system of standardized computer-based tests, based on UAE national standards.

These online tests measure Grade 12 students’ skills and knowledge as they complete their general education and move to their higher education. They provide decision makers with data for college admission and placement.

The ministry said determining the place and time for doing the test was solely the responsibility of the student. The students have been advised to register for the available sessions at the centres in their areas of residence or emirates.

The test is mandatory for Grade 12 students, both Emirati and non-Emiratis, and it applies to all public and private schools that teach the curriculum of the Ministry of Education and the private international curriculum.