Sharjah24: The Friends of Arthritis Patients Association, a health-supporting association under the Sharjah Family Supreme Council, organised the closing ceremony of the Arthritis-Friendly Schools Award. This event, in its second edition, encompassed schools in Sharjah - Central and Eastern regions, both governmental and private, in strategic partnership with the Emirates Foundation for School Education and the Sharjah Private Education Authority. The initiative involved educational, sports, and supportive activities for arthritis patients, aiming to raise health awareness among students and school communities regarding prevention and coping with arthritis. The ceremony took place at the Sharjah Research, Technology, and Innovation Park, announcing the winning schools in the presence of Her Excellency Eman Rashid Saif, Director of the Health Promotion Department, and Dr. Raed Abdullah, Director of Taryam American Private School.
Welcoming the attendees, Wahida Abdulaziz highlighted that the award was announced in October 2023, with a focus this year on first, second, and third-stage schools. Its goal is to promote health awareness by advocating healthy lifestyles to maintain bone and joint health and prevent arthritis. The initiative aims to introduce the school community to the Friends of Arthritis Patients Association and its supportive programes for patients and their families, as well as to increase community and volunteer engagement in the association's activities and programmes throughout the year.
She stated, "The initiative offers ten awards: the grand prize, followed by three awards for first-stage schools from each region (Sharjah/Central/Eastern), three awards for second-stage schools, and three awards for third-stage schools, each from the same regions."
The Arthritis-Friendly Schools Award covers various humanitarian, societal, and sports fields alongside activities that support and serve arthritis patients and other initiatives benefiting patients and the community. Schools compete in achieving these objectives by adopting initiatives that contribute to their enhancement, fostering humanitarian and charitable concepts among students, and preparing the school community for active participation in programmes.
The winning schools were selected based on several criteria, including documenting executed events, the number of beneficiaries from implemented programmes, the number of initiative-related events completed with the team, and the alignment between the initiative and the final report for each activity. Each school must have conducted at least four activities benefiting targeted groups of students, parents, and the local community. Additionally, schools were required to present a short video about arthritis (story), not exceeding two minutes, while ensuring diversity in documenting project programmes and presenting innovative and creative ideas aligned with the association's initiatives, programmes, and events. Finally, schools' arthritis-friendly team participated in supporting student initiatives through the association's electronic portal.
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