The National Archives- in cooperation with the Ministry of "Education"- supplements the national education curricula with historical documentary films promoting loyalty and belonging to the UAE

As part of the ongoing cooperation and strategic partnership between the National Archives and the Ministry of Education in the United Arab Emirates, the National Archives supplemented state schools social studies and civic education curricula with short national historical documentary films that support the curriculum and further explain its details, to enhance students' visual and mental historical memory with national values and principles, thus enhancing their loyalty and belonging, and establishing their national identity.

The National Archives provided the Ministry of Education access to ten documentary films from the "Memory of the Nation", which were included in "Al Diwan" platform. The Ministry also included them in school-books and provided access to these historical documentary films through a scan code for each, so students can watch them on their mobile devices.

The Ministry of Education has supported its national curricula with these films, which the National Archives has produced in line with its national responsibility, and classified them according to the consistency and conformity of their content with its educational subjects or material.

The diverse documentary films' topics enrich school curricula, as they depict aspects of the glorious biography of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and his brothers the founding fathers of the UAE, and deal with its history and civilization.

These films are well received by students because they support in an audio-visual form and an interesting cinematic production, the theoretical knowledge and information they received through their books.



About this mutual cooperation, His Excellency Abdullah Majed Al Ali, Executive Director of the National Archives said: The cooperation between the National Archives and the Ministry of Education takes strategic dimensions which allow the National Archives to play its role in developing and enhancing students' knowledge in order to build and shape their personality as needed by the nation whether at present or in future. He added that the National Archives is a strong supporter for UAE educational projects and systems, this stems from its belief in its documentary mission and its societal role, noting that the National Archives various important projects and initiatives in collaboration with the Ministry of Education have qualified it to win the Khalifa Award for Education for the education supporting institutions category.



His Excellency also stressed that the close cooperation between the National Archives and the Ministry of Education is achieving the targeted objectives aiming at providing sound civic education and historical awareness of the homeland thus establishing the national identity of UAE students who constitute the backbone, and pillar supporting the UAE future,.

The cooperation between the National Archives and the Ministry of Education resulted in several programs, projects and initiatives, since the National Archives is the targeted destination for history and heritage research students of all ages, where they find the most important, reliable and authentic historical documents, references and sources, whether in the traditional hardcopy or in digital form.



The National Archives- concurrently with organizing students school trips to the its headquarters- launched its educational national awareness program: “My Nation, My Identity, ..My loyalty and belonging”, which instills in young generations the supreme values of loyalty and belonging and reinforces principles of national identity and good citizenship for a better and promising UAE future.



In cooperation with the Ministry of Education, the National Archives annually holds the "Teachers Forum" which has become a cultural event aiming to support the vision of the United Arab Emirates through instilling national identity in UAE people, and promoting the values of loyalty and belonging to the homeland and its wise leadership. The forum aims to bridge gaps between teachers, students, and parents by enhancing teachers' knowledge of the history and heritage of the United Arab Emirates, and introducing them to Emirati customs, traditions that bring them closer to students. Moreover, the Ministry employs the National Archives' efforts and national experiences and expertise in preparing history and civic education curricula.



Among the ongoing projects between the National Archives and the Ministry of Education is the Student Historians Club, which aims to develop students' awareness of their homeland, its history, heritage and achievements, and to enhance their educational process as this project constitutes a link that bridges the gap between students theoretical education received at school and its practical application.



Among the joint initiatives between the two parties is "My Archive.. My Future" stemming from "Watheq"  national campaign which aims to educate school students and raise their awareness about the importance of documenting personal records as part of the future memory of the nation. As well as the national educational initiative "Zayed 100 Stories", which resulted in encouraging and motivating students to prepare 100 stories about the Founding Leader, the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan from the memory of the nation, through their readings of his glorious biography.



"Our Inspirational Stories" initiative has directed students to write about carefully considered and targeted national historical programs that contribute to the development of society, highlight humanitarian and community projects and initiatives, spread hope, instill values of benevolence and giving, enhance positivity and optimism, and improve the quality of life in the Emirati society.

The initiatives of "Zayed.. 100 Stories", "Our Inspirational Stories" and the "Writers of the UAE Fiftieth Anniversary" constitute a golden triangle for students' creativity. The National Archives has evaluated the students participating works in the latter initiative, and anticipated a bright future that awaits these future generations. That initiative was designed to prepare a creative generation of students, to sponsor, take care of them, and enhance their knowledge and  writing skills, to eventually lead them to cultural distinction.

Perhaps the most prominent stage of the two institutions' cooperation is the series of "Reading through the Memory of the Nation" projects that were launched concurrently with the "Year of Zayed" and included a number of initiatives aiming to benefit all UAE school students, and focusing on the eternal legacy of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, his achievements, wisdom, efforts and endeavors for the development of mankind, and his ahead of his time vision for national sustainability. this series includes:

- The initiative to provide one hundred school libraries and enrich them with historic and national books.

- The initiative to provide a hundred other schools with the words and quotes of the wise Arab Leader, Sheikh Zayed.

- The initiative to publish one million of the following educational booklets: “Khalifa… A Journey into the Future” and the book “Zayed, From Challenges To Union ", and " Qasr Al Hosn: The History of the Rulers of Abu Dhabi ".

It is noteworthy that the cooperation between the two parties began with school trips to the National Archives headquarters (previously called the "Center for Documentation and Research"), and later launched the "Young Historian Award", in 2009, with the aim of enhancing the values of loyalty, belonging, national identity, and developing historical awareness of generations of students, which helped them to develop their critical and analytic skills, their innovative thinking and expression, through employing innovative research approaches, and encouraged their research on the UAE history and heritage and their preservation. This award, which will soon come to its Twelfth edition has achieved its targeted objectives; as it attracted and encouraged a large number of students to research on the various eras of the UAE history.



The National Archives:

The National Archives of the United Arab Emirates was established under the Ministry of Presidential Affairs in 1968, based on the directives of the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, with the aim of collecting and documenting material relating to the history and heritage of the United Arab Emirates and the Gulf region. Forty years after its establishment, His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan issued Federal Law No. (7) for the year 2008 to change its name to be the National Center for Documentation and Research, entrusted with the task of organizing government entities archives in the United Arab Emirates, then a later order issued by His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE to change its name from the (National Center for Documentation and Research) to be the (National Archives) in accordance with Federal Law No. (1) of 2014.