Letters

The Ministry of Education in partnership with Bahrain Islamic Bank (BisB), and in collaboration with Isa Cultural Centre, recently launched a two-week campaign, inspiring children and families to read.

READ helped to celebrate 100 years of education in the Kingdom of Bahrain. A portable library bus visited both public and private schools, such as Bahrain Bayan School, St Christopher’s School, Alia School, West Riffa Primary Girls and Boys School, Somaiya Primary Girls School and many others, as well as popular locations such as Cinekids Bahrain, Studio Ceramics, Yellow Submarine, Zallaq Springs and Ready Get Set Cook.

The initiative was a great success as it energised and encouraged children to learn about people, places and events outside of their own experience. Local thinkers, authors and social media influencers were also invited to act as reading ambassadors.

With sustainability in mind, the campaign focused on the parents’ and educators’ engagement levels through various literacy-promoting activities and on social media through the channel

@readbahrain.

Books and reading are fundamental to children’s language development, regardless of their first or second language. There is no greater gift we can give to a child than the ability to read, which is why I extend my appreciation to BisB, Isa Cultural Centre, and members of the community for supporting us and being committed in this campaign with us.

Shaikha Hala Al Khalifa, campaign project manager.

The Rotary Club of Salmaniya organised its annual Raft Race fundraising event at Al Bander Hotel & Resort in Sitra on April 19 and can report that more than BD25,000 has been raised thanks to our sponsors and the teams who participated. 

The club, working under the theme of ‘Challenge Disability’, aims to support those mentally and physically challenged in Bahrain, and to challenge society’s approach as a whole.

The event witnessed 24 teams representing different companies and generous supporters, such as our platinum sponsors Credimax and DHL and gold sponsor NBB.

The winners of this year’s Raft race were:

Men’s open sea:

3rd  Am Yateem Team 1

2nd APM Terminal

1st MMC (Motor Sports Marshals club) Team 3

Mixed Lagoon:

3rd MMC (Motor Sports Marshals club) Team 1

2nd Al Ghalia

1st MMC (Motor Sports Marshals club) Team 2

Since it started in 1976, the event has raised more than BD2m for various charities. We would like to thank everyone for their continued support.

We were glad to see such a good turnout, including so many families. At the end of the day we are all here to have fun and help others.

Seema Baqi, race chairman and incoming club president, The Rotary Club of Salmaniya

ThinkSmart for Development and Training is organising the third Forsati Connect, part of the series of events aiming at connecting young Bahrainis with ICT leaders and also giving them internship opportunities.

The event brings together Bahrain’s ICT community for networking and offers an opportunity to meet IT leaders in Bahrain and gain valuable insights into their businesses.

This edition will have a speaker from Microsoft and will take place this evening at the Awal Ballroom, Gulf Hotel Bahrain Conference & Spa at 6pm-8pm.

Forsati, a programme launched in 2017, aims to train and certify Bahraini students and job-seekers on the latest Microsoft technologies, along with soft skills aimed at improving employability skills and assisting with internship opportunities.

Contact 17746746 for more details or visit www.forsatibh.com

Fosati Connect.

The progress achieved by Bahrain is remarkable. I had a chance to visit the kingdom for a sixth time recently. I had also travelled from Los Angeles to Tokyo but still find the speed of development more noteworthy here.

I send my heartiest congratulations to all those dedicated people responsible for making Bahrain one of the best countries in the world.

R. M. Arora,

Aurangabad, India.

Tourism continues to be a growth sector for Bahrain’s economy with more than 12 million visitors per annum according to the latest government statistics, increasing on average by plus-eight per cent year-on-year since 2012.

The largest group of tourist arrivals are residents from Saudi Arabia, entering the country via the King Fahd Causeway, comprising 87 per cent of total visitors last year. Hotels are the preferred accommodation type across the market with 71 per cent of tourists choosing this option, followed by furnished apartments as the second most popular choice (17 per cent).

With the average length of stay rising to 2.9 tourist nights, the majority of visitors travel to Bahrain for the purpose of holiday and leisure (63 per cent of the total). The second largest grouping of visitors travel to visit friends or relatives (17 per cent).

James Lynn, head of strategic advisory and Heather Longden, head of advisory and transactions, www.cbre.com