In a time when means are multiplying and meanings are decreasing, reading remains the truest means of educating the mind and preserving the spirit. The Arab Reading Challenge has come to remind us that the book is still the origin of the idea, and that the nation that reads does not die, but is renewed and rises.
This blessed initiative was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai, to be an Arab beacon that restores respect to the Arabic language, and to instill in generations the passion for knowledge and love of the word. Through this initiative, and with the support of His Highness’s other initiatives in the fields of education, culture, and human development, the message of challenge extended from the Gulf to the ocean, creating an Arab generation of readers who believe that Progress begins from the page of a book. In the Kingdom of Bahrain, this challenge was not a passing event, but rather a national success story that embodies the spirit of the government whose motto is the love of challenge and the love of achievement, a government that believes that building human beings is the essence of development, and that the future of the nation is made in the classroom and between the covers of books.
From this belief, the team of the Ministry of Education in Bahrain worked with sincerity and dedication, believing that reading is the key to creativity and excellence, and that the student who reads is the leader who thinks, creates and leads. The Bahraini student Muhammad Jassim Mubarak’s second place victory in the Arab Reading Challenge was the best testimony to that. This victory was not the result of coincidence, but rather the result of a national and institutional vision that believes that success is a habit, and that the Bahraini does not stop at the limits of participation, but Strives for leadership.
The impact of this culture has extended to our homes as well. I saw it in my daughters in Al-Iman schools, those schools that believe that knowledge is not complete without a culture of reading, and encourage their students to take on challenges in the fields of education and culture with a beautiful competitive spirit. They would read stories with love and write them down in their reading challenge passports with pride, joy, and endless curiosity, as if every page was a new adventure, and every book was a world waiting to be discovered.
Thus, the Bahraini vision is integrated into rational leadership, a distinguished government that believes and achieves achievements, a ministry that fosters thought, schools that instill reading, and families that turn the book into a daily companion. When these efforts are united, the challenge is not just a cultural project, but rather a message of renaissance that restores the Arab nation’s position in the fields of thought and knowledge.
Whisper
Teach your children that a page can open a door, and that a book can change a life. Not every hero carries a sword. Some of them carry a book, and win with thought and word.
