UAE students National Day 'human sentence' breaks record

Date

11/25/2015 8:36:51 PM

(MENAFN- Khaleej Times)

To celebrate the UAE's upcoming 44th National Day almost 7000 students gathered at GEMS Modern Academy to smash the existing world record for the "world's largest human sentence."

The 6958 students - drawn from 35 GEMS schools across the UAE - spelled out the sentence "Happy National Day" in the presence of officials from the Guinness World Records.

The previous record of 6282 participants was set in Nice France by employees of Tiens Group a Chinese multinational on May 8 when they spelled out "Tien's Dream is nice in the Cote D'Azur."

"This is more than about breaking a world record. The message for us is about showing our support for the UAE and in celebration of the UAE National Day" said Dino Varkey group executive director and board member of GEMS education.

"More and more one of the things that we realise is that while there are so many different countries and cultures represented in the UAE we're starting to coalesce around a common culture and a common set of values" he added.

To break the record the students were required to wear the same colour and stand perfectly still for five minutes while forming a grammatically correct sentence which could have been written in any language.

The event was also attended by a number of officials from Dubai's Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) along with its Director-General Dr Abdulla Al Karam who even participated in a 400-metre relay race that pit GEMS students and teachers against KHDA staff.

GEMS Modern Academy pupil Mohammed Abdullah Ahmad said: "It was a wonderful experience being a part of breaking a world record. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity and I got it." "We feel awesome. To be a part of this is really great" said Damian Fernandes of the Millennium School in Dubai.

"The long wait outside was worth it and since we were with friends it wasn't boring at all."

"It's like being a part of history" added another Millennium School student Kashef Minod.

Dino Varkey said that GEMS was ecstatic about the student's achievement.

"We have the privilege of educating 250000 children every day around the world. So managing 7000 should be easy" Dino Varkey added.

"But getting 7000 children to be perfectly still for five minutes that was the challenge."

Bernd Debusmann Jr. Originally from Mexico City I've been in Dubai since January 2015. Before arriving in in the UAE I worked as a general news reporter in TV and print in Mexico City NYC and Washington DC. I'm interested in defence issues politics technology aviation and history. In my spare time i enjoy traveling and football - I'm a keen fan of Chelsea FC. I developed an interest in the Middle East traveling through Jordan and the West Bank. I have a BA in Political Science from Dickinson College in the USA and an MA in International Journalism from City University London.

Legal Disclaimer:
MENAFN provides the information “as is” without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the provider above.