DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – Education is one of the cornerstones of ending extreme global poverty, however enrollment of children in school has completely stalled. As of 2011 there were still 57 million children not in primary school and another 69 million children not enrolled in secondary school. In response to this problem, the philanthropic group, Dubai Cares, has answered the call for educational change and has launched their newest campaign, “End Poverty. Educate Now.”
Dubai Cares was originally started in 2007 by the Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The organization’s main goal is to increase the number of children enrolled in primary schools across Dubai while working to improve the quality of the education as well as working on gender equality for all students. The list of achievements to date is impressive and includes building and renovating over 1,500 classrooms, training over 23,000 teachers, and providing over 1,000 water wells and potable water access points for schools. What the group has accomplished does not stop there and is about to grow even longer with the addition of the latest campaign effort.
The “End Poverty. Educate Now.” campaign will run through the month of Ramadan and act as a fundraiser for improving education quality and school attendance, as well as a reminder of how important a good education can be and how it can help end poverty. Tariq Al Gurg, Chief Executive Officer of Dubai Cares was quoted by AME Info as saying, “In a knowledge-based world, investment in education is key for countries to build a healthy and equitable society. As a result, the inherent potential of people can be fulfilled, leading to an increase in income levels and a reduction in educational and social disparities caused by poverty. Our “End Poverty. Educate Now.” campaign aims to garner the support of the UAE community in order to improve the lives of underprivileged children globally and help further reduce the number of out of school children which according to UNESCO currently stands at 57 million.”
To support the campaign, Dubai Cares will have an interactive donation rally for the first twenty days of Ramadan at the Dubai Mall in order to bring awareness to the cause. The demonstration will start out displaying all black and white posters on tiles of children living in poverty. Every time a donation is made or a new person registers with Dubai cares, they will change a part of one of posters from black and white to a full color, slowly transforming the entire poster into a picture of a child receiving an education. This symbolic change over will help give a visual reminder of what can happen when a child receives a good education. Those who visit the stand will also be able to have their picture taken at a photo booth to keep as a souvenir of the event.
– Chelsea Evans
Sources: Dubai Cares, AME Info, UNESCO
Photo: Gulf News