Dubai: The best and most talented students, teachers, schools, universities and families were honoured at the 16th cycle of the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Award for Distinguished Academic Performance on Tuesday.
Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance, handed out the awards to the winners — 210 of whom were Emirati — who have excelled in academic achievement, behaviour and work development.
Speaking at the event, Shaikh Hamdan said: To complete the Award’s role in driving such practices, I am pleased to announce today that the Award has transformed into a programme of educational excellence, and I hereby direct the Board of Trustees to take necessary actions, hoping that such transformation creates scientific and literary value and opens up the field for sustainable intellect and development.”
The competition comprised four levels — international, Arab region, GCC and UAE levels. Each level included several categories, such as excellent teacher, excellent student, excellent school management, best scientific innovation and best family. There were 425 entries from students, schools, colleges, counsellors, families and universities in the UAE in 14 different categories, showing a growth in the number of participants from last year.
“The number of participants in the current edition has increased at 300 per cent in the Unesco-Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Prize, 100 per cent at the Arab states competitions, 120 per cent at the level of Higher Education competitions at GCC level, and 23 per cent at the level of local distinguished student,” said Humaid Mohammad Obaid Al Qutami, Minister of Education.
Ninth-grade student, Shreya Gupta who attends Delhi Private School in Sharjah, is second-time winner of the National Level Award in the UAE.
Gupta believes that her dedication to studying coupled with her extra-curricular activities, which are yoga and swimming, are the main reasons that have led her to be a winner. “Different platforms provided to me by my school and the guidelines set by the distinguished Hamdan Award committee helped me set my long-term goals and excel more in life,” she said.
‘Confident’
Gupta explained that she has been following the Hamdan award guidelines for the past six years, which have helped her become more organised and punctual. “Winning this award makes me more confident towards achieving my goals in life,” she said.
Gulf News also talked to the proud father of Egyptian ninth-grader Mohammad Magdi Ammar, who was attending the ceremony to watch his son win the Hamdan award in the ‘Distinguished student’ category for the third time.
“What makes Mohammad distinguished is one of his best qualities, which is reciting and memorising the whole of the Quran at the age of just nine,” he said.
The father-of-five, who is a judge on the Hamdan awards panel for the non-Arab category in Abu Dhabi, also won the Hamdan award in 2011 in the ‘distinguished teacher’ category. His other son and daughter have also won the award multiple times, and his family received the award in 2013 in the ‘distinguished family’ category.
This year, the category for the most distinguished student received the highest number of participants with 326 entries, of which 190 have been chosen for the award. The second most popular category was the most distinguished teacher award with 37 entries and 10 winners. The judging panel consisted of 52 judges, who are university professors, teachers and educational experts from around the world.
