Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), along with several other partners, recently launched the National Reading Campaign to nurture a book-loving culture among children for lifelong pursuit of knowledge.
Championed by HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, vice chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, the National Reading Campaign places great emphasis on the role of parents in shaping their children’s future.
The year-long campaign aims to empower and support families in Qatar, offering the necessary guidance and support to help them inspire and share a passionate love for reading.
“As a child’s first teacher, parents play a crucial role in their childhood development,” explained HE Sheikha Hind.
“In addition to shaping how they view and interact with the world around them, parents are responsible for laying the building blocks for learning, curiosity, behaviour and wellbeing. Reading aloud to children strengthens bonds, creates invaluable memories and reinforces family ties.
“The campaign serves as a platform which aims to encourage local entities to work collectively, under one umbrella, to achieve a shared goal. We, along with our partners and stakeholders, are dedicated to empowering the next generation to reach their full potential, so they can grow up to be active citizens and inspirational leaders. And, we believe, this begins with a passionate commitment to early development,” she concluded.
Apart from raising awareness about the importance of reading, the campaign is designed to show the community that reading can be both fun and captivating, and not just purely academic. In addition, the campaign empowers parents and educators by offering them the support they need to adopt best practices that will inspire children to read, while cultivating self-learning and curiosity.



The National Reading Campaign aims to raise awareness about the importance of reading from an early age.

QF, along with its partners, which include the Qatar National Library, Qatar Museums, Childhood Cultural Centre, Maktaba, Khair Jalees, and AlFaisal Social Responsibility Centre, is working to identify engaging Arabic books for children and make them more easily accessible. These, in turn, will be made readily available in libraries and bookstores across the country, providing access to culturally relevant content which helps to reinforce linguistic traditions.
Fahad Saad al-Qahtani, president of Community Development, QF, said: “One of the most important aspects of the National Reading Campaign is improving accessibility to relevant reading material, and this includes Arabic content. At present, most Arabic literature for children is translated from other languages, meaning the existing content and characters are not always relatable to children in this region.”
Since the launch of the campaign, a number of events and school visits have taken place across Qatar. The interactive events also help families create an environment conducive to parent-child bonding and learning.
The nationwide events, which have so far taken place at The Pearl, Al Khor Park, Ezdan Mall, the Gulf Mall and the Gate Mall, had a wide range of exciting and fun-filled activities to appeal to the whole family.
Some of the most popular activities include a Book Hangout, where children can dress up as their favourite storybook characters and act out specific scenes; a Book Swap, where visitors can exchange books; and Qatar’s first Story Maze, where children can discover different stories depending on the route chosen.
More activities by the campaign are to set up vending machines throughout national schools, enabling children and the wider community to swap books free of charge, and a mobile library, named the ‘Reading Truck’, to sell books and related merchandise and will be parked at schools and public spaces across the country.
Pop up stores will also be set up in public spaces, offering children the opportunity to attend storytelling sessions, browse books and use specially-designed iPad applications to enhance reading skills.
The campaign events will take place on Thursdays, Saturdays and Tuesdays throughout Ramadan at the City Centre Mall, from 7:30pm to 11:30pm at the AlFaisal Social Responsibility Centre booth.