Sandooq AlWatan launched the Mawhibatna Spring 2020 program by distance learning, for the purpose of finding and nurturing Emirati talented students with high mental ability, and in line with the preventive and safety measures taken by UAE government to safeguard the public health.

As part of "Mawhibatna" initiative, the program combine 135 talented Emirati students from sixth to eleventh grade, who successfully completed 157 online courses in the previous week, and they were able to learn advanced knowledge and gain high skills that stimulate their intellectual, scientific and innovative potential in different areas.

The program was enforced by the Khan Academy online platform and concentration on two main areas: Space Science and Economics. In the first field, which is developed by the American Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), via which students were introduced to new ideas about the solar system, planets, and the journey to Mars? While in the Economic field, students were introduced to the characteristics of markets, supply and demand, and what happens when market conditions change.

Mawhibatna program is sponsored by Aldar Properties, Ali and Sons, and Emaar. The Spring Program is one of the development programs that "Mawhibatna" initiative offers to help the development and advancement of gifted students knowledge and skills and qualify them to enter the best universities in the world.

On this occasion, Ahmed Mahmoud Fikri, Acting General Manager of Sandooq AlWatan, stated: "We accomplish this year in enforcing the program via distance learning. Inspite of the circumstances and challenges we are dealing with the participation and engagement levels of students and parents were high and effective. Students were able through the platform to learn new subjects and to take advantage of their vacation period to enrich themselves with the twenty first century skills. We aim through the "Mawhibatna" program to find out and nurture talented Emirati school students so that we can prepare a generation of future scholars and entrepreneurs, who can contribute in the sustainable development plan in every field in alignment with the UAEs national agenda for UAE vision 2021 and UAE Centennial 2071.
Ahmed Fikriadded, "Our leadership in the UAE invests heavily in young people being the mainstay of the country and the leaders of the future," insisting on the fact that Sandooq AlWatan works hard to grant opportunities for national competencies to contribute in building a future knowledge-based and research-based economy, under all the circumstances.

For her part, Salwa Al Maflahi, Associate Director - Sustainability & CSR, Aldar Properties, stated: We are a proud partner of Sandooq Al Watan and especially the Mawhibatna programme, which is supporting talented Emirati students to fulfil their entire ability. Being able to adapt the programme to cater to students taking part remotely is a robust endorsement of the preparedness of everyone involved in particular the students who are thriving.

On their part, the brothers Khalifa and Hussein Khaled Al Shamsi asserted their admiration for the experience and how much they gained from the opportunity of distance education, as Khalifa stated: "I have registered in two courses Exploring the Universe and Microeconomics. I loved in the program that it exposed me to new and interesting information outside the school curriculum. The program made me taking benefit of my vacation time and gain many skills that will be an advantage to me in my studies such as distance learning. While Hussein reflected on his experience saying: I liked the experience because I learned valuable and interesting information and gained useful skills as I was able to explore NASAs efforts in space as well as in Mars. I was also able to learn about the cutting-edge developments in scientific research in this field. From his side, the father, Khaled Al Shamsi, thanked the Sandooq Al Watan for creating this program as well as the UAE leadership for investing in youth who will lead the future and he added by saying personally I have noted the change in my children in terms of developing familiarity with many information and advancing their understanding, their focus and their performance, and I repeat my thanks to those in charge of this the program, God bless you all."

Discussing her experience, Amna Khalid Aldhebaiei, a Mawhibatna students stated: I choose my microeconomics as my subject. I would like to thank Mawhibatna and Khan Academy for this opportunity to provide me with a glimpse of how people and businesses make decisions. Although I am in year Nine, I have this opportunity to study the vast world of economics. I realized that Microeconomics applies to almost every elemennt of our lives; from doing groceries, purchasing anything, supply to cover the demand of our requirements, business decisions and such, its in everything! And I am thankful to my family for encouraging me on this path.

The "Mawhibatna" initiative is one of Sandooq AlWatan initiatives that deal with finding out and nurturing talented Emirati students from the fourth to twelfth grade in order to invest in their skills and develop their capabilities to excel in the future. Snadooq AlWatan targets via this initiative to find out 2000 Emirati talents and nurture at least 500 of them, and place 60% of them in the top universities across the globe.

During the period 2018-2019, Sandooq AlWatan was able to find out 309 talented Emirati students and nurture 210 of them via different programs in the spring and summer, locally and globally. In partnership with the most prestigious local and global academic institutions, which includes the Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth, New York University Abu Dhabi, Khalifa University, Ajman University, Stanford University and other educational institutions, in order to offer students with a stimulating environment for creativity, innovation, and competition and assist the development of their leadership skills to become the future leaders of the UAE in all fields and a fundamental building block in setting up a sustainable knowledge-based national economy.