Iftah Ya Simsim
Iftah Ya Simsim (; meaning "Open Sesame") is the first international co-production of the American children's television series "Sesame Street" created in the Arab world. It premiered in Kuwait on September 14, 1979 and was broadcast in 22 Arabic-speaking countries, running until April 6, 1990. The program continued to be well-known decades after it went off the air. In 1978, educators, mass media officers, and social planners agreed to adopt "Sesame Street" as a feasible and economical solution for the low attendance in preschools and illiteracy that plagued the region. They approached the Children's Television Workshop (CTW), the producers of the American show, and purchased the rights to create an Arab version for US$2.5 million.
Iftah Ya Simsim
Misbah Al-Khayr and Hashim Al-Samira'i, in an article from the 1995 book "Children in the Muslim Middle East", reported on a study that sought to evaluate the influence of "Iftah Ya Simsim" on its Baghdad viewers' knowledge about language, general information, mathematics, science, and moral principles. The study found that 85% of all children residing in Baghdad had watched it and that they interacted with and were attached to many of its characters, who exposed viewers to the accents of the region. The most popular segments were those that contained cartoons, songs, and puppets. The show's viewers demonstrated an increase in their understanding and knowledge in all areas, especially information about their social and natural environment.