Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates– The UAE Ministry of Education, Knowledge Hub, a leading provider of learning solutions in the UAE and throughout the Middle East, and Renaissance, the creator of the myON digital reading platform, have signed an agreement to launch a project which aims to improve English reading standards for the 380,000 students in primary and secondary Emirati schools.

The agreement was signed by Dr Sameera Alhosani, Curriculum Director for Humanities and Languages at the UAE Ministry of Education, Surekha Kembhavi, CEO of Knowledge Hub, and Joan Mill, Managing Director of Renaissance International at the Ministry of Education in Khalifa City, Abu Dhabi.

For the UAE Ministry of Education, this project drives the continued improvement of English literacy standards in the country. This is in line with the UAE Centennial 2071 and the Ministry’s strategic vision of an innovative education. The agreement, which covers all UAE public schools, is the largest myON governmental implementation in history and comes after two successful pilot schemes run in the country.

“This collaboration strengthens our journey towards providing the best high quality education to the young minds of our country. Through reading and literacy tools like myON our learners will be able to develop enhanced skills to meet the requirements of future jobs and careers,” commented Dr Sameera.

Ms Kembhavi said: “This partnership is a big achievement for us, helping deliver skills that are a very important part of the learning process today. We are thrilled to be partnering with a global platform like Renaissance to bring the right reading tools to students in the UAE, as it will help enourage a reading culture among students in the region.”

As part of the collaboration and to support the UAE’s annual Month of Reading, a special reading competition has been announced, open to all public-school students. Running throughout the month of Ramadan, the competition challenges students to read as many digital books on myON as they can. Students who read the most will be recognised with certificates of achievement. Top-performing schools will also be recognised, as will teachers whose students have the highest rates of participation.

Ms Mill said: “We are proud to formalise our agreement with the UAE Ministry of Education to mark the start of the myON Reading Initiative. Since 7th March, this year, when the Reading Initiative Competition started, UAE students have already read over 510,000 books, spending over 3 million minutes reading on myON. These are exciting times for education in UAE and Renaissance. The government here is well ahead of many others in its desire to see innovation in education in the classroom.  And the move away from traditional teaching and learning towards a more personalised curriculum – one that responds to each English language learner’s individual strengths and weaknesses – chimes perfectly with what Renaissance offers and believes.”

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About Knowledge Hub

Established in 2001, The Knowledge Hub was born out of the undying need to provide high-quality education to students to cope with the ever-growing demands for advanced learning and development. Through the altruistic initiative and guidance of Sheikha Lamia Faisal Al Qassimi, invigorated by her aspiration to enhance the quality of education through IT solutions, The Knowledge Hub came into being in Dubai as a pioneer in the EdTech market. The constant support that Knowledge Hub has been providing to teachers and students since the beginning stirred the organisation to take a giant leap of expanding from Dubai to other Emirates and eventually throughout the Middle East region.

To learn more, visit https://knowledge-hub.com/.

About Renaissance

As a global leader in assessment, reading, and maths solutions for primary and secondary schools, Renaissance is committed to providing educators with insights and resources to accelerate growth and help all students build a strong foundation for success. Renaissance solutions reach more than 40 percent of US schools, and are used in more than 100 countries worldwide.

The Renaissance portfolio includes Star Assessments, for reliable, accurate insights into student learning; myON, to increase students’ access to high-quality reading materials; Accelerated Reader, to support independent reading practice; Freckle, for teacher-led differentiated instruction in maths; Lalilo, to develop critical foundational literacy skills; and Nearpod, for teacher-facilitated instructional delivery.

To learn more, visit https://intl.renaissance.com/