More than 2500 pupils from 30 schools in Abu Dhabi, Ras Al Khaima and Umm Al Quwein visited the Emirates International Date Palm Festival 2012 organized by Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister of the UAE, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of ADFCA.

The pupils actively participated in the various entertainment and educational activities such as drawing, theatre, poetry contests, date palm climbing and folklore and heritage programs. They also enacted creative skits with aplomb. The characters of the cartoon series �Zaduna� received the pupils and joined them in their tour of the exhibition. They were given practical advices on food safety.

The programs for the pupils also included cultural contests on food safety, animal wealth, agriculture, water and environment and so on, through which awareness was sought to be strengthened for the visitors.  The pupils were received at the ADFCA stand in the festival with gifts and awareness publications.

Mohamed Jalal Al Reyaysa, Chairman of the Higher Organizing Committee for the Festival and ADFCA official spokesperson, stressed that school students were an important segment of the community that the festival sought to reach out to with a view to instill in them a sense of the cultural values and heritage of the UAE. �The founding father His Highness the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan always tried to cultivate a love of culture and heritage among the people. His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE president continues to follow in his footsteps through wise plans and strategies,� he pointed out.

Al Reyaysa added that the festival comprised several new features this time around, all meant to attract the active participation of the young students. �The festival seeks to support the ideas of environmental conservation and agriculture as a fundamental aspect of development in the UAE,� he concluded.