INSTILLING STUDENT AWARENESS IS THE PILLAR OF ADVANCEMENT OF DOMESTIC TOURISM
AMAL AL AFIFI: THE FAMILY AND THE SCHOOL PLAY A VITAL ROLE IN BUILDING THE PERSONALITY OF THE STUDENTS TO BE PROUD OF THEIR IDENTITY AND THEIR NATIONAL CIVILIZATION
OBAID AL TENEEJI: OUR RESPONSIBILITY IS TO PROVIDE THE STUDENT WITH AWARENESS THAT ALLOWS FAMILIARITY WITH THE HISTORY AND CIVILIZATION OF THE COUNTRY
ISMAEL AL HAMMADI: INTEREST IN RAISING SOCIAL AWARENESS OF THE INTERNATIONAL TOURISM MAP
AMNA AL ZAABI: PIONEERING EFFORTS IN BOOSTING THE STANDARD OF ABU DHABI IN RELEVANCE TO THE INTERNATIONAL TOURISM MAP
DAWOOD AL MALEEH: RECOGNIZED INTEREST BY THE MINISTRY OF EDUCATION IN INCLUDING NATIONAL AND DOMESTIC TOURISM IN THE ACADEMIC CURRICULA
ABU DHABI / JULY 14,2021
The General Secretariat, Khalifa Award for Education, stressed the importance of the concerted efforts of all society institutions as well as the role of the family in developing student awareness during the summer vacation to enhance student knowledge in regard to the national identifiers, through broadening knowledge of national heritage and history, including notable touristic monuments and attractions in the country; a fact that assures a rich system of national awareness at all levels of education, especially in primary education which allows national awareness at an early stage.
This was reflected during the dialogue session organized by the General Secretariat of Khalifa Award for Education and titled “ Domestic Tourism and Student Awareness”, in the presence of Amal Afifi, Secretary General to the Award and the speakers Ismael Abdullah Al Hammadi, Director of the Cultural Heritage Department at the Ministry of Culture and Youth, Amna Muhammed Al Zaabi, Deputy Director of the Guest Experience Department at the Tourism Product Development Management, Department of Culture and Youth, Dawood Muhammed Al Maleeh, Curricula Development Specialist at the Ministry of Education and Obaid Al Teneeji, Arbitrator at Khalifa Award for Education.
Amal Al Afifi commenced the session highlighting the importance of student awareness and the role of the school, the family and other social institutions in developing a student awareness system that foresees the future and enhances national identity through a profound familiarity of national identifiers, considering the importance of national culture and an overview of the history of the country and its pioneering role in this regard, added to that knowledge of the tourist and archaeological attractions. Mrs. Al Afifi assured that, all this, and through a comprehensive framework for a conscious knowledge-based system, molds the student’s vision and implants in the students pride and respect for the history and culture of their country.
Mr. Abdullah Al Teneeji continued on the same topic: Our responsibility as educators, parents and society institutions is to provide to the youth and students a stock of national awareness that enables each of them to be exposed to the lexicon on national heritage and its role in the consolidation of national identity and the value system, keeping in mind that the summer vacation is the perfect time to accomplish this mission, as some parents might choose going abroad to spend the vacation and others might choose domestic tourism. In both cases, Mr. Al Teneeji went on, it is essential to spotlight our country’s abundant touristic attractions and outstanding productive monuments that, in total, set a common base for a national touristic development that supports the deepening of student awareness for domestic tourism and its role in enhancing the sense of belonging and loyalty to the country through exposure to the essence of national achievements and income that results from tourism and the feeling of pride in the components of tourism, manifestations of civilization and archaeological sites in the United Arab Emirates. This all leads us to save and preserve these monuments, evoke our history, satiate our souls with the aroma of our heritage and eventually make it our duty and obligation to expose our heritage, history and culture to other nations to learn about, with the objective of forming and training young national cadres to follow our steps and make it their duty to identify and promote our national tourism, cultural destinations and monuments.
Ismael Hammadi on the same note expressed that the United Arab Emirates is considered one of the leading tourist-attracting countries in the world, for the variety of tourist destinations and the different options that cater for choices of all tourists’ family members.
Al Hammadi backed this up by indicating that the tourism sector in the United Arab Emirates has lately been able t achieve recognized performance rates in spite of all the challenges incurred by the pandemic on tourism worldwide. This, is no doubt, considered a good indicator that sets way to the tourism sector to restore its contribution in the sustainable development in the country. Al Hammadi continued to reflect on the Campaign “ Most Beautiful Winter in the World” launched by H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President , Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. The Campaign, he said, is an indicator of the revival of activity in this sector to encourage domestic tourism through focusing on acquainting citizens and residents in the country with tourist attractions as well as cultural and historical monuments that they can visit in addition to shedding light on a wide range of entertainment activities that residents may enjoy while benefiting from the variation in natural destinations, from desert to beach to mountain, keeping in mind always that they ought to abide to all safety and security procedures and to consider the safety of other tourists; a fact that has subsequently raised confidence and contributed in providing essential factors for the revival of touristic activity.
Al Hammadi also pointed out that the Ministry is keen to raise social awareness to the importance of historical and cultural tourism through initiatives designed for youth and school students in the Emirates, to encourage them to identify and get acquainted with the heritage of their ancestors and their genuine Arab values that evoke their feeling of pride and belonging. He also assured that knowledge is an important factor in establishing youth confidence and character that, in turn, sets base to establishes bridges of human and civilized communication locally and internationally.
Amna Muhammed Al Zaabi shared her own point of view on the topic inscribing the efforts made by the Department of Culture and Tourism in Abu Dhabi to evoke touristic awareness in all community layers in general and students in particular, and to ensure acquaintance with the importance of tourism in the capital Abu Dhabi as a pioneering world center in attracting tourists. Mrs. Al Zaabi also highlighted the prominent archaeological and touristic destinations in Abu Dhabi as well as the factors of touristic attraction that ensure the status of the capital at the local and international levels.
Mrs. Al Zaabi, in this dialogue session, also reviewed the national strategy for domestic tourism and the efforts endorsed to strengthen the status of Abu Dhabi and its role in regard to the international touristic map in addition to the efforts of the mentioned department and its collaboration with all relevant authorities to present awareness programs to familiarize domestic tourism on the level of the capital, added to that the competitions and events organized by the concerned sector in this regard. In order to shed light on the prominent archaeological touristic resources repleted in Abu Dhabi and that represent one of the basic pillars to touristic attraction at the level of the state and the region.
On his part, Dawood Muhammed Al Maleeha also affirmed the importance of student awareness, pointing out the efforts made by schools in the UAE in this regard, and their collaboration in ensuring the vision of the curricula sector in the Ministry of Education and the team responsible for social and civic studies and at the Curriculum development department. This all, as he continued, translates the concern of the founder and father of the nation, H.H. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan who had always encouraged the pupils of his nation to examine the ancient history of their ancestors and to familiarize with its morals and experiences in order to build a successful present and future, and to keep up with the quest and keenness of our wise leadership in the continuous journey of development, improvement and flourishing of this state while still preserving the cultural and original social factors. To this, it becomes a matter of essence that the curricula of social and civic studies are designed to include special importance to tourism and archaeology. Archaeology, he reflected, is considered the main pillar to the axis of history just as tourism is the main pillar to economy. Subsequently, various units and lessons were included in the curricula to raise student awareness on the same line with the saying of H.H. the founder of the nation “ A nation that does not preserve its past, will never have a present and a future”.
The session ended with an open discussion on the role of the school in implanting student awareness, enriching student knowledge with the role of our history and national culture as and the touristic attractions in the country as well as the role of the student in familiarizing other pupils in the world with the specific factors of our national tourism
- A number of participants in the dialogue session “ Domestic Tourism and Student Awareness” at Khalifa Award for Education