The Board of Trustees of the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance chaired by H.E. Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education, informed the results of the 22nd Cycle of the Foundations Awards. The Award featured a total of 114 distinctive winners from the education sector, with ninety five winning the local competitions and 19 winning the GCC competitions. The winners will be honoured at the end of April 2020 at the closing awards ceremony to be held at the Dubai World Trade Center.

The 22nd cycle of the award, got 420 entries. The entries have been evaluated by fifty three judging committees throughout the period between December 2019 and February 2020.The committees comprised six committee chairs for the following categories: Distinguished Student, Distinguished Teacher, Highly Distinguished Teacher, Distinguished School, Distinguished Family, Distinguished Educator, Best Scientific Innovation, Best Implemented Project, and Education Supporting Institutions.

In addition, a preliminary screening committee was organized to qualify the local and GCC entries, and another committee was set up to audit and review winning applications.

Dr. Jamal Mohammed Al Mehairi- Vice Chairman of the Board of Trustees and Secretary- General of the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance said, Through the years, the award has proved its leadership locally and regionally, in aiding the efforts to enhance education, elevate the bar of the education sector, and honour the distinctive to improve and enhance the education industry in the UAE and other Arab countries. With the aid of the leadership and the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai Minister of Finance, the award continues its pursuit to set up innovation as a key pillar for a robust national foundation that will define a vibrant future for the coming generations."

H.E. added: "The award performs a pivotal role in boosting the governments efforts in creating the basic and university education, in addition to scientific research, as well as assisting national institutions via pioneering academic global initiatives. We pledge to proceed on the steps of our wise leadership to enhance training and lead by example in the discipline of investing in human.

Dr. Sulaiman Al Ansari, CEO of the Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance stressed that the 22nd cycle of the award was top notch and showed quality development in entries, which displays its value of in the UAE, GCC and the Arab world. Since its establishment two decades ago, the award has been a stepping stone to improve all the elements of the academic system.

Al Ansari said: "Through the years, Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance has witnessed numerous improvements at all fronts which includes opening the door for participation, presentation and judgement, and has additionally extended its footprint with participation from a number of global businesses concerned with education, predominant of which is The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In the present day cycle, the award witnessed distinctive contributions and we are assured that it will be a remarkable addition to the education system in the Arab world and a new start towards more participation in the upcoming cycles.

He in addition added: "We look forward to hosting the award ceremony in April to honour the extraordinary winners in the present day cycle. Additionally, we motivate all the participants who did not succeed in this cycle to take part once more in the upcoming cycles, because their efforts will clearly represent a fantastic addition to the award. I would additionally like to prolong my gratitude to all our partners and key members who have contributed to making this award a success and showcasing the special winners in education as an honourable model in order to domesticate hope and foresee a prosperous future for all the Arab World.

Dr. Ali Saeed Al-Kaabi, President of Judging Committees explained, "The present day cycle witnessed the participation of distinguished experts from the region and the world in the judgement committees, who worked as per the best global standards in assessing entries and selecting the great ones to make contributions to a positive change in the academic systems locally, regionally and internationally."

The present day cycle noticed the adoption of electronic systems for all the local categories, -two winners in the class of Institutions Supporting Education, inclusive of Abu Dhabi Police for tackling the crime scene management and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA).In the GCC categories, the electronic systems have been utilized for the first time and interviews for the Distinguished Student category have been carried out via "Skype". About the level of participation, the Board of Trustees indicated that the 22nd cycle witnessed the participation of 336 participants in the local awards, 84 in the GCC awards, and 113 in the Arab awards.

As for the Hamdan-UNESCO Award for Rewarding Distinguished Practices and Efforts to Improve Teachers Performance, Dr. Khalifa Ali Al Suwaidi, member of the Board of Trustees of Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Distinguished Academic Performance and Technical Consultant at the Award, indicated a 27percent increase in the participation number in the present day cycle in contrast to the fifth cycle held previous year. The participation entries recorded this yearwere193 and the winners will be honoured next October at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, France. The number of participants in the award since its kick off in 2009/2010 till this years sixth cycle of 2019/2020 reached 724 participations, while the number of winners in all award cycles was 14 winning institutions.

On a separate note, Al-Suwaidi explained that the first session of this years Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum ISESCO Prize was carried out with the participation of 44 participants from 18 different countries, with three winning institutions which will be honoured next April at the headquarters of The Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) in Rabat, Morocco. The award was judged in Dubai by an international three member panel. It is rewarded every two years to three winners, and every individual award is valued at $ 100,000.

The current cycle of the award was received by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud International Foundation for Charity and Humanitarian Deeds for constructing 172 multi-purpose model schools by the Islamic Development Bank in Bangladesh, the schools project in the Emirati-Jordanian camp, in addition to the inception of 495 schools across the world by the Emirates Red Crescent Authority. Other winners included the Faculty of Information Technology in Birzeit University and Munib R. Masri Development Foundation for academic initiatives developed in Palestine and other countries.