The King Abdullah ll School for Excellence of Excellence won first place in the country-level qualifiers, becoming among the finalists competing for the grand ‘Best School’ Award of the 7th Arab Reading Challenge, which drew a record participation of more than 188,000 schools across the Arab world. All the students joined the challenge, driving the school’s participation rate to 100%, among which 77% of the participants read and summarized 50 books. The school placed the teachers’ role as a top priority in supporting and encouraging students to read, achieving a 100% teacher participation throughout the challenge’s different stages. The King Abdullah II School for Excellence launched initiatives to achieve the challenge’s mission in promoting reading as a habit. It used social media to host regular community meetings with poets, authors, and thinkers. The school formed partnerships with Yarmouk University and Iqra association to expand the impact of its reading initiatives, and rolled out several programs that enriched its library with valuable books.

Home Talent School in Saudi Arabia won first place in the country-level qualifiers, joining the other finalists in competing for the grand ‘Best School’ Award of the 7th Arab Reading Challenge, which drew a record participation of more than 188,000 schools across the Arab world. The school achieved a 77% participation rate among its students, who read and summarized 50 books. Efforts to boost the role of teachers in encouraging students to adopt the habit of reading have succeeded with 100% participation in the challenge’s preparations. Home Talent School organized initiatives that supported the challenge’s mission to instill a culture of reading. The ‘Making of a Reader’ initiative saw parents compete to read. The school has also dedicated its social media platforms to spreading reading tips among students and their parents. It installed display screens in commercial malls to encourage people to participate in the Arab Reading Challenge.

Egyptian school, named after martyr air force pilot Ali Mohammed Ali Bey, won first place in the country-level qualifiers, becoming one of the finalists to compete for the grand ‘Best School’ Award of the 7th Arab Reading Challenge, which drew a record participation of more than 188,000 schools across the Arab world. The Shaheed Tayar Ali Mohamed Ali Beeh Primary School achieved a 100% participation rate among its students, who read and summarized 50 books. It also saw students participating in the new category for People of Determination. The school forged multiple partnerships to fill its library shelves with books. An agreement with ‘Save the Children’ association supplied the school with a mobile library. It also organized an initiative titled ‘The Future is Better with Reading’ to encourage parents to read. The school’s other efforts included implementing initiatives with other winning schools across the Arab world to exchange knowledge and expertise for a better performance.