International Business Award-winning programme, Kids Read, returns to UAE for the second year running. The programme, a collaboration between HSBC and the British Council, promotes good reading habits among primary students in government schools across 11 countries in the Middle East and Asia
Dubai, 27 November 2012: 60 Ministry of Education primary school teachers and supervisors today completed a three day training programme to commence the second year of the award winning 'Kids Read' programme.
Kids Read, sponsored exclusively by HSBC Bank Middle East & Affiliates Ltd and developed by the British Council, aims to encourage reading for pleasure inside and outside the classroom in government primary schools across the Middle East region and Asia. Following a successful first year, the 2012 - 2013 edition will reach an estimated 5000 children and teachers in 13 government schools across Dubai and the Northern Emirates.
HSBC's Ammar Shams said that the collaboration with the British Council was a great platform to support the development of children's reading skills and overall educational development. "Kids Read is in line with HSBC's Corporate Sustainability strategy which helps us to reach out to the community to offer opportunities for our customers, staff and communities. We believe that education is the key to a prosperous future. In this case, reading will open opportunities for children and expose them to other cultures and positive attitudes. We are sure that investment in our children now will be for the benefit of the future generations. We are very proud that our staff also take an active role in helping our community and our children to reach this goal," he said.
He added that "After the completion of its first year "Kids Read" was awarded a Silver 'Stevie' Award in the Corporate Social Responsibility Programme of the Year (Middle East and Africa) category in the 2012 International Business Awards and we see this as a very encouraging sign"
The unique programme was launched at Sheikha Bint Saeed Model School for Girls, Ajman on 7 November during a ceremony attended by officials from HSBC, British Council and the Ministry of Education.
Speaking during the training, British Council Dubai Director Kate Owen said, "We are immensely excited about the second year of Kids Read, which is funded exclusively by HSBC Bank Middle East & Affiliates. We saw a tremendous success in our first year, reaching over 2200 children in the 6 participating UAE schools and we hope to more than double that number this year. "
"I am sincerely grateful to HSBC for their continued support for this initiative. It would not have been possible without their generous funding and the staff volunteers participating in the community events. We hope to collaborate on many more events in future," he said.
-Ends-
About Kids Read:
Kids Read has been created by the British Council and is sponsored exclusively by HSBC Bank Middle East Limited. Kids Read encourages reading for pleasure, both inside and outside the classroom among primary school children across the MENA region. Through the joint efforts of the respective countries' Ministries of Education, HSBC and the British Council, the Kids Read program aims to reach 25,000 children across 13 countries in the MENA region during each academic year.
About the British Council:
The British Council creates international opportunities for the people of the UK and other countries and builds trust between them worldwide. We are a Royal Charter charity, established as the UK's international organisation for educational opportunities and cultural relations.
Our 7000 staff in over 100 countries work with thousands of professionals and policy makers and millions of young people every year through English, arts, education and society programmes. For more information, please visit: www.britishcouncil.org/me.
HSBC in the community
For HSBC, sustainability is core to our everyday business. It allows us to support individuals and organisations in achieving their goals by contributing to socio-economic development and environmental protection. Investing in the community, particularly through education, is an important element of HSBC's sustainability strategy and we place great emphasis on employee volunteering. In 2011, HSBC committed US$96 million to community investment and our employees volunteered over 320,000 work hours.
© Press Release 2012
