Addis Ababa : The Al Maktoum Foundation has officially opened two schools in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which will offer educational opportunities for students from poor and middle-class families.

The schools were opened under the patronage of Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, in the presence of a delegation headed by member of the Foundation’s Board of Trustees Mirza Al Sayegh.

The Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid School in the Ayat district has a 405 student capacity and spans grades five to nine. It includes a computer lab that accommodates 40 students as well as a chemistry lab. The schools’ employees will be paid by the Foundation.

Meanwhile, the Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum School in Nifas Silk boasts 12 classrooms and accommodates 513 students in grades five to nine.

School principal Jerma Nagors expressed his appreciation for the opening of the school which, he said, will offer many local children the opportunity to learn.

At the 2007 World Economic Forum in Jordan, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced his plans to give $10 billion, one of the largest charitable donations in history, to set up the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation. He stated that the money is meant to bridge the knowledge gap between the Arab region and the developed world, improve the standard of education and research in the region, develop leadership programs for youth, and stimulate job creation.

—AB/UNA-OIC