Aimed at promoting Arabic arts and culture, a total of 18 students from various Middle and High Schools in Qatar were recognised for their outstanding Arabic literary pieces during the Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani Arabic Language Awards ceremony yesterday.
The event was held under the patronage and in the presence of HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi and hosted by the Al Faisal Without Borders Foundation (Alf) at Qatar National Convention Centre.
The 18 winners were selected by a distinguished panel of judges from the Ministry of Education and Higher Education from among 160 participants belonging to 50 schools.
“The Arabic language is considered as one of the oldest spoken and one of the most common languages in the world,” HE Sheikh Faisal said.
“Approximately 300 million people speak Arabic around the globe. Aside from being the official language of countries in the Middle East, Arabic is the language of the Holy Qur’an. With the history of Arabic literature dating back some 16 centuries ago, I am deeply honoured to be able to read such amazing literary pieces written by young students of today.”
Sheikh Faisal thanked HE the Minister of Education and Higher Education Dr Mohamed Abdul Wahed Ali al-Hammadi for his presence and his continued support in Alf’s efforts to leverage the importance of the Arabic language and to congratulate all the winners with the hope that these awards would serve to inspire them even more to continue pursuing such talents.
Fawzia al-Khater, director of Education Institute, stated that language has a vital role to play in communication - spreading across the various fields of literature, poetry, art and science.