Video: 13-year-old Sudanese girl wins Arab Reading Challenge

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Arab Reading Challenge, Hadeel Anwar, Sheikh Mohammed

Dubai - She has won Dh500,000.

By Sarwat Nasir

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Published: Tue 12 Nov 2019, 11:00 PM

Last updated: Thu 14 Nov 2019, 12:19 AM

A Grade 7 student from Sudan, Hadeel Anwar, has been crowned as this year's Arab reading champion. She shed tears of joy as her name was announced and when His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, handed her the winning trophy.
The 13-year-old aspiring doctor beat 13.5 million students from 49 countries who took part in this year's Arab Reading Challenge (ARC). As part of the world's largest reading initiative, she has won Dh500,000.
All five finalists will receive a full scholarship from the Abu Dhabi University to study in their preferred field.

The ARC was launched by Sheikh Mohammed in 2015 to encourage one million students to read and summarise 50 books in one academic year. A total of 13.5 million children participated in this year's fourth edition of the challenge.

Hadeel is the only child to her parents and has found inspiration from her mother and by reading books.


Last year, Moroccan student Mariam Amjoun, 9, took home the grand prize of dh500,000 after she won the final round of the ARC. She beat more than 10.5 million students from 44 countries, who collectively read over 250 million books as part of the challenge.

sarwat@khaleejtimes.com 


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