Dubai Cares, the UAE-based philanthropic establishment launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Prime Minister and Vice-President and Ruler of Dubai, is organizing the “ ‘Walk for Education 2010” in order to raise awareness among the participants and the community about the issues concerning children’s access to primary education globally. The 3-km walk will be held on 26th November 2010 along Jumeirah Beach Road and will be followed by a post-walk celebration at Jumeirah Beach Park. The walk will highlight the importance of primary education in breaking the cycle of poverty and also emphasize Dubai Cares’ efforts in developing and implementing education programs.
Tariq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares said, “According to UNESCO and WFP statistics, currently 72 million children globally do not attend school at all; 95 percent of them are in developing countries of which 57 percent are girls. These numbers are extremely disturbing especially when considering the UN Millennium Development Goal 2 of achieving universal primary education by 2015. The key to this tremendous shortfall is the lack of number of essential elements such as: funds for education; number of schools and accessibility to those available; water, sanitation and hygiene facilities; training teachers; infrastructure and teaching materials. The “Walk for Education” will help raise awareness about these serious issues among the UAE community and encourage them to support us in achieving the vision of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum of providing children in developing countries with access to primary education.”
Al Gurg added, “This event symbolizes the hardships that children in developing countries endure on a daily basis, by walking an average of 3 km in order to go to school. Every participant will experience the difficulty that children in developing countries face in accessing primary education and hence we encourage participation from all UAE residents to support us in making this event a success.”
UAE residents can register for the ‘Walk for Education’ onsite at Jumeirah Beach Park on the day of the event between 8am and 9am. Organizations can also participate as a group by downloading and filling the pre-registration kit which is available on the Dubai Cares website (www.dubaicares.ae) and delivering it to the Dubai Cares offices. Participation fee for the ‘Walk for Education’ is AED 30 per person and free for children below the age of five.