The tragic events in Syria, now well into their fifth year, have caused an estimated 1,300,000 inhabitants, mostly, women, children and elderly people from neighbouring urban and rural locations, to take refuge in Lebanon. The share of the Beqa’ Valley has been moderately estimated at 700,000 refugees many with young children in need of relief assistance as well as a variety of essential educational services.
Presently, a large proportion of refugee children and adolescents are out of school, exposing them to all manner of exploitation and abuse, with a strong likelihood that their effects lasting many years in the future.
We, a group of Syrian ladies, working under the umbrella of the Social Support Society (Lebanon), have been providing relief assistance to Syrian refugees in the Beqa’ Valley since November 2011. Food parcels, clothing and bedding items have been distributed almost on weekly basis. Since December 2012, we started to provide aid for schooling Syrian refugees in selected location within the Beqa’ valley in Lebanon, namely Majdal Anjar and Bar Elias.
Our principal intention is to continue providing basic education and essential care of refugee children in the above location with possibilities for expanding our scope of activities as well as replicating successful efforts in other locations. The following is an outline of educational assistance provided thus far.
Aid has been provided for schooling 450 children and teenagers, aged between 12 and 18 years, in Majdal Anjar, at premises loaned by Al Maqased Foundation during the afternoons. Assistance is also being provided for daily transportation of students from various locations to the school and back. The total expense of this school is monthly $12600 and yearly cost is $151,200.
A primary school has also been established by our group in Majdal Anjar. Since January 2014 a total of 550 students, aged between 6 and 12 years, have currently been attending classes at this school. Monthly expenses provided amounted to US$13,500 the yearly cost is $162,000. All schools will operate during the summer vacation in order to catch up on essentials as well as implement a wider range of extracurricular activities.
An additional primary school has been established at Al-Makassed in Bar –Elias in The Beka’ region since January 2015. A total of 300 students aged between 6-12 currently attend classes at this school. Monthly expenses provided amounted to $11,560 the yearly cost is $138,720. An annex to this document includes tables with detailed information regarding school expenses.
In collaboration with experts from partner institutions we have also organised and implemented a series of training courses for teachers in all of the above schools. Extracurricular activities have also been implemented including: theatrical productions, choir training, painting drawing and sports events.
During the academic years 2013 – 2014 and 2014 — 2015 our group also provided tuition fees and other forms of assistance to 25 university students registered for a variety of undergraduate courses in accredited Lebanese universities.
Our group provides bimonthly assistance to the families of students enrolled at its school, including food, bedding and clothing items. In particular we make sure that students at our schools are presented with completely new clothes in the autumn and spring of each year.
All activities undertaken at the above schools are subject to monthly assessment including evaluation of teachers’ performance and students’ attendance and achievements.
The main objective of our plans for the immediate future is to secure sufficient resources to:
• Provide basic educational services for up to around 1,300 students, who will be attending the above mentioned schools in 2016.
• Start a new school in, either Al Marj or Kamed Alloze, also in the Beqa’, where a large number of Syrian children are known to be in dire need of educational services.
• Institutionalise teacher training and extracurricular activities within established schools.
• Bring in information technology tools, including tablet devices and Internet accessibility to all students.
• Ensure that all students at our schools will receive at least one meal during school hours.
• Provide for regular medical examination of school children in cooperation with specialised national and international agencies.
• Establish pilot income generating facilities for a limited number of capable and eligible refugees from locations close to our principal areas of activities.
We judge our activities so far as highly successful on several fronts. In effect, while our attention has largely been focused on particular locations within the Beqa’ valley, the experience we have gained will stand a good chance for successful replication elsewhere in Lebanon as well as other countries neighbouring Syria with immense impact for the future of an otherwise lost generation.
For further information on any of the above points please contact Nimat Bizri, nfbizri@gmail.; M: +9613984467, or Salwa Jabri, salwajabri@gmail.; M : +966505485093 or M : +9613983312.
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