Young Dubai girl Mezna Najeeb, a grade five student of Al Ebdaa Model School, has beaten more than 450,000 participants in the Arab Reading Challenge (ARC) competition and has now qualified for the semi-finals, and will compete with winners from other countries.
The ARC was launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, in 2015 to encourage one million students to read and summarise 50 books in one academic year. Mezna Najeeb read a total of 100 books in a year, surpassing the target by a huge gap.
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid took to Twitter to congratulate Mezna.
The tweet reads, "Congratulations to our champion Mezna Najeeb who outperformed 455,000 students from more than 1,400 public and private school to become the ARC winner of the UAE. With you, Mezna, and your fellow Arab students, we are optimistic about the future."
The date of the final round of the ARC is yet to be announced.
Here’s our recommendation of top children reads this month.