dubal awards aed60, 000 to students participating in dubal’s first educational award
Company announces winners of second student’s competition for academic year 2006/2007
Dubai Aluminium Company Limited (DUBAL), the seventh largest producer of quality aluminium in the world, is celebrating the success of its first two-phase nationwide DUBAL Educational Award, which resulted awards worth AED60,000 in total being presented to various wining schools during the academic year 2006/2007.
DUBAL’s Educational Award initiative is in line with the directives of HH Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, UAE Minister for Finance and Industry and Chairman of DUBAL, to encourage and stress the importance of R&D activities among the students of the UAE.
Ms. Shaikha Elmehairi, Editorial Officer from the Corporate Relations & International Affairs department at DUBAL, said: "During the two phases of the competition, DUBAL had a total of 44 schools visit its complex. Reflecting the excellent response received, each visit comprised a group of about 30 students giving a grand total of around 1,320 students. During each visit, various information and statistics about the aluminium complex were given to the students by the DUBAL guides."
Upon the completing their visit, the students were asked to write a report or draw a picture about their visit to DUBAL. The wining schools for the report writing component are Um Imarah High School – Sharjah; Gatir Al Nahda High School – Abu Dhabi; and Al Ittihad Model School – Abu Dhabi. The winners for the drawing competition are Al Nawawy High School – Abu Dhabi; Um Imarah High School – Sharjah; and Al Ittihad Model School – Abu Dhabi.
“This award is reflects DUBAL’s firm commitment to the welfare of society and community. Our corporate social responsibility extends through such initiatives as well as several similar projects that are currently being implemented. We are grateful to our highly committed guides who volunteered to tour the DUBAL complex along with the students and explain the details of our various operations,” said Ms. Shaikha Elmehairi.
"We are confident this community initiative by DUBAL has helped to increase awareness and knowledge about the company's functions among state schools. Students were also encouraged to develop a spirit of team work while expanding their creative abilities and identifying products made within the country,” Ms. Shaikha Elmehairi added
Students were required to submit their entries within two weeks of their visit to DUBAL. The winning articles and drawings from each school were nominated by the pupils' activities section at their respective schools, then sent to the cultural and artistic activities department in the Ministry of Education (MoE). A committee was formed with representatives from the MoE and DUBAL, to decide the winners.
Building on this success the company aims to increase the number of visits to the plant in the next DUBAL Educational Award initiative, which will launch coincident with the start of the 2007/2008 academic year. A new approach will also be taken to the competition, which will be announced before the beginning of the new academic year.
