Youssef Al-Ibrahim wins the 1st place in Arab Reading Challenge for Students With Disabilities

Because of  his will, determination, and passion for reading, the child Youssef Al-Ibrahim was able to win the 1st  place in the Arab Reading Challenge competition in its eighth season at the Syrian level in the category of People With Disabilities.

Al-Ibrahim, the second grade student at the “ Ali bin Abi Talib” School in Homs city, told the correspondent of the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) that he was reading before participating in the competition with the aim of developing his linguistic skills, expanding his understanding, enriching his linguistic repertoire, learning about the meanings of Arabic language vocabulary and developing his imagination with the help of his father, who trained him to listen to audiobooks because he was blind, and how to extract ideas from them and summarize them.

He  added: “My excellence in the Arabic language, despite my young age, drew the attention of the teachers in my school and they encouraged me to participate in the competition last year as I did not succeed in obtaining the 1st  place at the governorate level to qualify for the republic level. At that time, I was frustrated, but the encouragement of my family and my school gave me power. My determination was renewed, and my family here began to develop a program that would enable them to raise my level, and I was able to pass the test at the school level and then obtain first place at the governorate level in the category of People With Disabilities.

“Now I have begun to realize the responsibility that I have as a Syrian child who dreams of raising the flag of his beloved Syria high,” he declared.

The child concluded his speech by describing his enjoyable experience as a journey from ignorance to knowledge  despite the difficulties and challenges it contains, thanking and appreciating his family, his school, and the supervisors and coordinators at all levels.

On the 4th of this month, the Arab Reading Challenge Initiative announced the names of the top ten students, the top three with disabilities, the best school and the best coordinator in Syria in the eighth session, durig a closing ceremony organized by the Ministry of Education at the Al-Assad House for Culture and Arts in Damascus.

Basma Qaddour