Morocco announces national winner for Arab Reading Challenge
Fatima Akhyar was declared the Arab Reading Challenge, ARC, national winner from Morocco after outperforming 10 finalists in a competitive round.
Akhyar, a student at Tangier-based Al-Kadi Ayyad School, was selected among the top finalists filtered down from more than one million students who participated in the challenge from all over Morocco.
Missour Secondary School, from Fes-Meknes, was declared Winning School of Morocco, while Rabat-based Mohammed Al Khteer grabbed the Outstanding Supervisor title in an award ceremony held in Casablanca in the presence of Saaid Amzazi, Morocco’s Minister of National Education, Vocational Training, Higher Education and Scientific Research, Ali Salem Al Kaabi, UAE Ambassador to Morocco, and Najla Al Shamsi, Secretary-General of the ARC, among other delegates, educators and students.
The 4th edition of ARC has attracted 1.15 million students in Morocco. Over 7,600 schools raced for the "Winning School" award through their various reading initiatives and programmes, while over 12,200 supervisors competed for the "Outstanding Supervisor" award.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, launched the ARC, the largest Arab literacy initiative in 2015, to make reading a lifestyle among students and promote the use of the Arabic language. The challenge’s first edition attracted over 3.5 million students, doubling to over 7.4 million in its second year. In 2018, the challenge recorded overwhelming participation of over 10 million students that rose up to about 13 million in this year’s edition.
Participating countries are currently undergoing a final round of qualifications to select the national winner who will represent them in the semi-finals to be held in Dubai in October. The two-day semi-finals will bring together students to compete for the title ahead of the winner announcement at the final in October.