Najla Al Shamsi: We look forward to expanding cooperation with Al-Azhar across all its institutions

The meeting explored ways to cooperate and open new avenues for joint work in culture and knowledge, widening access to books and knowledge for children and for school and university students, with a focus on the teacher as one of the most important influences on the awareness of young generations.

Investing in reading projects

Najla Al Shamsi presented Research Science Investment’s experience in reading projects, including the National Reading Project, explaining its stages, judging process and range of reading fields, as well as its method for selecting books and its quality standards for content, value and age suitability.

Al Shamsi stressed that reading projects should go beyond the idea of a competition to build a lasting culture of books and knowledge. She noted that over the years the organisation has developed criteria for selecting books and grading them by reader level, strengthening the link between author, publisher and reader, and helping to provide better, more suitable content for students.

Institutional cooperation is the broadest path to turning cultural ideas into projects with lasting impact.

Al Shamsi said she looks forward to expanding cooperation with Al-Azhar across its institutions, foremost the World Organisation for Al-Azhar Graduates, adding that combining the expertise and resources of institutions working in science and culture can open new paths to serve children, students and teachers.

Al Shamsi and her delegation also toured the Sheikh Zayed Centre for Teaching Arabic to Non-Native Speakers, where she held an extended conversation in Arabic with international students of many nationalities.

At the end of the visit, Dr Shouman presented Najla Al Shamsi with the organisation’s shield in recognition of her work in reading, education and culture.