Reality bites

ABU DHABI -- Over 369,000 public and private school students will start Term 2 on Sunday (tomorrow) after a three weeks mid-break holiday, announced the Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC).

In addition to the 130,428 students across 255 public schools in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and the 238,632 students in 186 private school, 5,663 students across Adult Education Centers and 4,833 home schooling students will resume their studies tomorrow.

As part of the UAE declaring 2016 as the "Year of Reading" to create a generation of book lovers and consolidate the country’s position as a global hub for knowledge, ADEC will be encouraging all schools across the Emirate to participate in different types of fun loving reading activities.

As a result of a successful year of innovation in 2015, ADEC is eager to carry on its mission to graduate a competent generation of scientists, researchers and innovators who will help fructify the future for the Emirate – which can only happen through strengthening a passion for reading, learning and knowledge seeking.

In the past, ADEC has taken part in and/or launched a number of initiatives related to reading, such as the annual "Abu Dhabi Reads Campaign" and the "Abu Dhabi International Book fair" with the aim of building a student’s self-confidence, motivation, imagination and creativity, while exposing them to different types of information.

With the intention of turning reading into a daily habit as part of a young student’s everyday routine, ADEC continues to add diverse books and genres to its existing Learning Resource Centers (LRC’s) across public schools.

The council introduced the different LRC’s in public schools since 2006 in order to encourage students to utilize different types of resources available that will help turn them into analytical learners and thinkers, while retaining a strong sense of national identity.

In order to enhance the love for reading, the centers are fully equipped with attractive colors, themes, appropriate reading area furnishings and stimulating/interactive activities such as puppet theater shows use for kindergarten and Cycle 1 students.