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A day I don't learn anything new is a day wasted: Shaikh Mohammed

Dubai - 7-year-old Mohammad Farah from Algeria is the winner of Arab Reading Challenge, taking home Dhs550,000 in cash prizes.

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Mohammad Farah, 7 years old from Algeria, won the first place of the first Arab Reading Challenge. The child walked away with $150,000 (Dh550,000), where $100,000 will go towards his university education and $50,000 will be given to his family. 

He was honored by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, along with Roua Hamo from Jordan who won second place and Wala Al Baqali from Bahrain who won third place, at the ceremony that was held at Dubai Opera. The other 18 finalists were also honored. An amount of $1 million (3.67 million) was offered to Tala'a Al Amal from Palestine among 30,000 participating schools. The school has a total of 3,100 students of which 800 participated in the Arab Reading Challenge. 
 
Launched in September 2015 by His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Arab Reading Challenge aimed to encourage one million students in the Arab world to read 50 million books each scholarly year.
The challenge attracted more than 3 million participants from 15 Arab countries and over 30,000 schools and named 18 finalists. 

"If I don't learn something new on any day, I feel one day of my life has gone to waste," Shaikh Mohammed said, and also announced that the award will target 7 million students next year.
The closing award ceremony was attended by several VIP guests, government officials and participants from the Arab region - including 400 delegations representing the 10 finalists from each participating country and official representatives.
- reporters@khaleejtimes.com

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