14,000 people take part in Dubai walk to raise funds for education

DUBAI: Around 14,000 people walked from the Creek Park of Dubai to Sheikh Rashid Hospital and returned to the same park to raise funds for educating the underprivileged children around the world.

Children, parents, youth, labourers and people from different fields of life took part in the walk for spreading the awareness of education.

Speaking on the occasion with Geo TV, Abdulla Al Shehhi, Director of Business Support, Dubai government’s philanthropic organisation working to improve children's access to quality education, said “Children of developing countries have to walk around 3 to 6 kilometers to reach their schools everyday so we want to give the experience to residents of Dubai.” He hoped the participants of walk would realise the challenges of students facing to get education in developing nations. Millions of students walk an average three kilometers everyday through difficult terrains, sometimes crossing rivers and mountains to reach school.

Many people from Pakistan including Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) also took part in the walk. Saleh Khan from Fata enthusiastically said, “We want better educational facilities in our region otherwise the whole country would suffer.”

Dubai has been helping Pakistan in association with The Citizen Foundation (TCF) to build schools and imparting quality education. Shahab Haider, the legal representative of TCF told the Geo that they have been supporting more than 600 schools in Pakistan with quality education.

The symbolic walk is held every year in Dubai to show solidarity with children around the world who have limited or no access to education. Drummers, dancers and different cartoon characters also enthralled the participants of the walk.