His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, honoured the winners of the Arab Reading Challenge 2025.
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His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, honoured the winners of the Arab Reading Challenge 2025.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, honoured the winners of the Arab Reading Challenge 2025 during a grand ceremony in Dubai celebrating unprecedented participation across the Arab world.
Among the distinguished recipients were 12-year-old twin sisters Baisan and Baylsan Koka from Tunisia, who each read more than 600 books during the challenge. Baisan, an aspiring doctor and oud player, and Baylsan, a violinist dreaming of a robotics engineering career, embody the spirit of lifelong learning and cultural pride.
Tunisia participated robustly with 128,666 students, contributing significantly to the record-breaking 32 million participants from 132,000 schools in 50 countries engaged in this ninth edition of the world’s largest Arabic literacy programme.
The challenge, launched by Sheikh Mohammed in 2015 and organised by the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives Foundation, aims to promote Arabic reading, language mastery, education, and cross-cultural dialogue throughout the Arab world.
Sheikh Mohammed praised the dedication of millions of students who endeavoured to complete the demanding challenge of reading 50 books each year, calling reading “the path to reclaim civilisation” and affirming the Arabic language’s central role in the region’s identity and future.
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