With the aim of enhancing students participation in the national initiative “Authors of the Next Fifty”,

The National Archives organized a national educational program to support and encourage talented students

In collaboration with the Ministry of Education, the National Archives organized a program including various national and educational workshops and lectures as part of the national initiative “Authors of the Next Fifty”, which targets UAE school students. The initiative comes concurrently with the year of preparations “Towards the Next 50”, and is driven by an ambitious vision to start a new phase in the UAE national march and cultural journey where the necessary knowledge support is provided to talented students in order to discover fifty talented authors.

The National Archives launched this initiative in partnership and collaboration with the Ministry of Education in line with its great national role and its keen interest in students civic education, generations sustainable knowledge development, and in enriching students’ thought and culture, along with instilling the values of loyalty and belonging to the homeland and its wise leadership, as well as promoting national identity and good citizenship principles in them.

In July and August 2020, the National Archives conducted its, distance learning, training and educational program for students during the current phase where the community ensures the adherence to all precautionary measures for the prevention and containment of COVID-19 in line with the Ministry of Education directives to the UAE educational sector.

The program's purposeful and comprehensive educational lectures and workshops encourage students to experiment and develop their writing skills and enhance their pride in the glorious history and ancient heritage of their homeland and their confidence in their talents and skills. They also encourage them to employ research approach in expressing their national sense through their research papers while adhering to the virtues and national principles of the Founding Leader, Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and following his footsteps in his national march of development, building and national unity which led the UAE to assume a leading status among the world's most developed countries in a record time.

The training workshops and educational lectures tackled various topics of interest to students throughout their educational or academic journey and their exercise of experimental writing on national issues. The most prominent lectures are: “Zayed, A Uniter and Leader”, “Zayed’s Space Embracing Ambition”, “The Centennial Anniversary of the UAE… and Towards the Next 50” and “The UAE: Civilization of a People and a History of a Homeland”.

The training workshops shed light on the following topics: “How to Use AGDA: The Arabian Gulf Digital Archive” website, “Story Writing Skills”, “Research Approaches” and “Using the e-Index of the National Archives' Emirates Library ”.

Furthermore, the program included a number of awareness videos, discussions and reading workshops on various national topics.

The National Archives took the participating students on a virtual tour of Sheikh Mohammed Bin Zayed virtual-reality Hall where they watched a 3-D documentary film on the UAE in the past and present.

To introduce the National Archives’ services to participating students, they were taken in a tour of the Emirates Library, which was established in 1968 concurrently with the establishment of the National Archives. The Emirates Library delivers services to researchers, academic staff, teachers and beneficiaries of various categories and sectors; through its electronic indexes, it also provides access to tens of thousands of electronic and printed sources, references, journals and periodicals on the UAE, which are made available for students and academic researchers whether in the UAE or abroad.

From the Emirates Library they moved on to the Customer Happiness Hall designated for receiving researchers, as it is equipped with the latest devices and software that help visitors in their search for and retrieval of historical documents and material on the history and heritage of the UAE and the Gulf region among the National Archives' precious holdings.

With the aim of acquainting participating students with the Arabian Gulf Digital Archive “AGDA”, as a main and primary source of original documents on the Arabian Gulf, the forum introduced them to this free of charge digital portal which is available to all internet surfers including researchers, scholars, and academics, whether from a specialized background or the public, through which they can view thousands of historical documents and hundreds of photographs, audio-visual “multimedia” recordings of both historical and cultural value on the Gulf Cooperation Council countries or states and their rich history, and get acquainted with key influential figures in the Gulf region.

This program was implemented and conducted through the great efforts of the National Archives' work-team of experts and specialists; namely: Mrs. Husniya Al Ali, Head of the Educational Programs Section, along with the educational programs specialists: Aisha Al Zaabi, Mohammed Ismail Abdulla and Hind Al Zaabi as well as Shareena Al Qubaisi, Head of the Oral History Unit at the National Archives, and others.