On the occasion of the eighth anniversary of the ascension of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, Dubai Cares has hailed His Highness for underscoring the importance of education in ensuring progress, peace and prosperity in the UAE and in the developing world.
Dubai Cares, a UAE-based philanthropic organization working to improve children’s access to quality primary education in developing countries, was established in 2007 by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed to give children in developing countries - regardless of their nationality, creed or religion – access to quality primary education.
Marking the anniversary of the ascension, Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares commented: “On this momentous occasion and on behalf of the Dubai Cares team, I would like to hail His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum for his visionary leadership, which has seen Dubai transform into a global metropolis and one of the best places to live in. Underpinning the success of the city has been its futuristic vision, ambition as well as its emphasis on growing knowledge and competence, both home and abroad through education.
Concluding his remarks on this special occasion, Al Gurg said: “Sheikh Mohammed has identified education as a key area of development for the UAE, as evidenced by the recent largest national brainstorm session that he launched to suggest ideas to improve the health and education sector in UAE. In addition to making education a priority for the UAE, he has also expanded this focus to the developing world. The global economy is increasingly moving towards a knowledge-based format. In this ever-evolving context, education provides youth the opportunity to move beyond limitations that held back previous generations and change the future of their respective nations, setting them on the right path to progress. I am proud to say that through the work of Dubai Cares to date, 8 million children have been given the opportunity to have access to education and become positive contributors to their communities and countries.”
To date, Dubai Cares is reaching more than 8 million children in 31 developing countries, building and renovating over 1,500 schools and classrooms, providing more than 1,000 water wells and potable water sources, constructing over 3,000 latrines in schools, providing nutritious food every day to more than 500,000 children in schools, training over 23,000 teachers, keeping more than 2.3 million children free from illness such as intestinal worms through its de-worming activities, distributing over 2.1 million books written in local languages and establishing over 6,750 Parent-Teacher Associations.