Category: Literacy

JERUSALEM, The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has signed an agreement with Mercy-USA for Aid and Development to provide critical health and education interventions to Palestine refugees living in the Gaza Strip.

According to an UNRWA press statement, the US$ 250,000 contribution will provide funding for some 35,000 mammograms to at risk Palestine refugee women. Additional health interventions include the provision of medical equipment for vision screening ensuring more than 90,000 students are screened for visual impairment via services managed by UNRWA school health teams. Glucometers and glucostics for hundreds of diabetic Palestine refugees, most of them children, will also be provided.

The contribution will also support educational services for 520 visually impaired refugee girls and boys who receive care at the UNRWA Rehabilitation Centre for the Visually Impaired (RCVI). Funding will be used to provide dozens of tablets for students to ensure access to education, especially in the event of a return to remote learning in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Mercy-USA is also financing upgrades and repairs to the RCVI facility’s yard and solar power system, with the aim of enhancing the learning environment for students and their teachers. Through its specialized education, rehabilitation, orientation and life skills classes, the RCVI has assisted thousands of visually impaired students in gaining the skills and the confidence they need to successfully navigate hurdles to education access and job opportunities in Gaza. This is the third round of funding support from Mercy-USA to the UNRWA RCVI, providing invaluable support to the critical services provided by the Centre.

UNRWA health, education and relief and social services programs are three of the Agency’s core programs delivered to Palestine refugees across all five of its fields of operation. In the Gaza Strip alone, the UNRWA Health Department has historically registered an average of 4 million patient consultations across 22 healthcare centres every year. Additionally, the Agency is proud to provide free primary education to more than 286,000 girls and boys across 278 schools in the 365 km² enclave.

Mercy-USA, a long-standing partner to the Agency, seeks to alleviate human suffering by supporting projects focused primarily on health, nutrition and economic and educational empowerment.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency

Tripoli, Minister of Education, Dr. Musa Muhammad Al-Maqrif held a meeting in his office in Tripoli with the Special Representative of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Libya, Abdul Qadir Musa” during which aspects of cooperation between the ministry and the organization and the joint action plan were followed up and the promotion of the educational process was discussed. During the meeting, which was attended by the Director of the Education Department of the organization, “Ibrahim Faraj”, the first advisor to education in the organization, Dr. Hussein Al-Alam, and the Director-General of the General Center for Training and Education Development, Dr. Ali Al-Wafi, the organization’s plan to work with the Ministry in the next stage, and the joint work plan were reviewed.

 

Source: Libyan News Agency

Aleppo, Under the patronage of Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Armed forces, President Bashar al-Assad, a celebration was held on Wednesday to graduate a new batch of students of al-Assad Academy for Military Engineering.

The President was represented by Deputy chief of Staff of the Army.

The Deputy Chief of Staff delivered a speech during the ceremony in which he conveyed President al-Assad’s congratulations for the graduates, wishing them success in their future duties.

 

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Out of the 84 student companies that took part in the Injaz Oman Student Company Program competition “My Company 2021”, 40 student companies qualified for the second stage and only 15 elites were selected for the final stage of the competition. Eventually, the champions of the University of Technology and Applied Sciences snatched the title of the competition as T2G Co. was crowned as the best student company for the year 2021.

 

Source: Higher College of Technology in Muscat

The Ministry of Education on Monday announced via its Twitter account that the main building of the ministry will be closed today due to the Parliament session which will be taking place at the UNESCO Palace.

Source: National News Agency

Damascus, A session of talks was held on Wednesday at  Higher Education and Scientific Research Ministry, headed by  Minister of Higher Education, Dr. Bassam Ibrahim, and the First Vice-President of the Russian Novosibirsk Province, Yuri Petukhov, concentrating on means of enhancing and developing joint scientific cooperation.

 

The two sides affirmed the need for increasing cooperation in the domain of scientific research, activating agreements between Syrian and Russian universities, enhancing permanent communication in this regard, and supporting the Russian language teaching in Syria, in addition to  building  capacities in medical, engineering and other sciences.

 

Minister Ibrahim hailed the distinguished relations between Syria and Russia at all levels, expressing hope that more scientific cooperation agreements would be signed with Russian universities.

 

For his part , Petukhov showed readiness to  accept Syrian students who have the will study in Russia and to offer all forms of support to find the infrastructure for new technologies.

 

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Newly-appointed Minister of Education and Higher Learning, Abbas Halabi, on Tuesday vowed to exert efforts to secure a safe return to schools amid the ailing livelihood conditions, the soaring fuel prices, and the coronavirus spread.

“We do not have a magic wand, but we will endeavor to surmount obstacles,” Halabi said during the handover ceremony at the Ministry of Education.

For his part, his predecessor Tarek Majzoub underlined that financial stability was crucial for the launching of the academic year.

Source: National News Agency

Daraa, Daraa Education Directorate has returned pupils and students of several schools in Daraa City to their original schools after transferring them temporarily due to the presence of families who came from Daraa al-Balad area and who were residing in these schools, and that came after these families had returned to their homes and after performing an emergency maintenance for the schools.

Engineer Manhal al-Ammarin, Director of the Education Directorate, said in a statement to SANA reporter that the schools whose students returned to them are Hittin, Zat al-Nitaqain, and Maysaloon, noting that the directorate has conducted an emergency maintenance for them.

Al-Ammarin pointed out that at the beginning of the academic year, the directorate carried out a process of transferring students from these schools to other schools, and immediately after the families who came from Daraa al-Balad returned to their homes, the directorate assessed the condition of the schools and conducted the required maintenance for them.

Director of the Education Directorate clarified that the technical cadres in the Directorate have conducted a comprehensive evaluation of Daraa al-Balad schools, and it was found that five schools need restoration work. The restoration periods range from a week to a month, depending on the damage suffered by these schools.

He pointed out that 4,000 students were transferred to other schools within Daraa al-Balad.

 

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

Damascus countryside, With the participation of civil society, Damascus Countryside Education Directorate is following up work of restoration and maintenance of school buildings in the city of Daraya which were subjugated to destruction and sabotage by  terrorism.

SANA camera observed Western Ghouta Secondary Schools, Darya Fourth School and Mahatta High School where restoration works are being carried out to put them into service before the end of the first semester of the academic year.

Engineer Issa Shadid, of the Department of School Buildings in Damascus Countryside,  said  that  work is currently underway to maintain 4 other schools, one of which is ready to be put into service during the next two weeks, while 15 schools are still destroyed where works of renovating them have not started yet.

 

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

The joint committee of the program of “the homeland’s wounded” presented during a press conference ,been held at the Officers’ Club in Damascus, a brief about what the project has achieved after five years of its foundation in addition to its national role in caring and enabling the wounded of the Syrian Arab Army.

The conference started with a speech of Deputy Defense Minister Mahmoud al-Shawa during which he talked about the need that necessitated establishing this project after the growing number of the injured in the Syrian Arab Army and the supporting forces in the war operations along with the necessity of founding an institution on the national level that takes care of their health conditions and offers aid and means that facilitate their movement ,support and enable them in the work and production as well as helping them continue their educational attainment and increase their job opportunities.

He pointed out that this program was not merely an emotional step but it has always been constituting an advanced vision of holding responsibilities for the injured which is a vision that starts originally from the beliefs of the Defense Ministry and its adherence to its wounded.

For his part the Operations Manager of the project ,Rashad Ali, talked about the way of building partnership between the project and the injured through the services offered, adding that for improving the psychological and physical conditions of the injured, there was sports tournament conducted in August with a participation of 92 injured in an effort by the project to open up for some of them to train.

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)

Draraa, Education Directorate in Daraa province demanded its administrative and educational staff with their students to attend in alternative schools after the terrorist organizations, positioned in Daraa al-Balad, al-Mukhayam and Tariq al-Sadd, hindered life manifestations at these areas and when schools went out of service due to the terrorist organizations’ insistence on refusing the settlement solutions proposed by the state.

Education Director Manhal al-Amarin, in a statement to SANA said that the current conditions in the province forced the Directorate of Education to accommodate Daraa al-Balad school students on a temporarily within alternative schools in al-Mahatta neighborhood on an evening shift.

The areas in Daraa al-Balad, al- Mukhayam and Tariq al-Sad in Daraa province have witnessed tense in the security conditions for nearly two months due to the terrorist groups stubbornness and rejection to all peaceful solution and the settlement agreement that was proposed by the State, and their continued attacks against the residential areas and the army posts with rockets and shells.

 

Source: Syrian Arab News Agency

President of the Republic, General Michel Aoun, indicated that “Addressing the educational situation at the beginning of the school year has become an urgent necessity, in light of the current difficult circumstances which Lebanon is witnessing, which have negatively impacted the educational situation as happened in other sectors.”

“This necessitates a realistic and comprehensive treatment which takes into account the various components of the educational body, i.e. educational institutions, bodies and parent committees, as well as the role of the Education Ministry in this field” President Aoun said.

In addition, the President pointed out that he intends to call for an emergency conference devoted to address the educational situation to help start the school year and provide the auxiliary factors for this issue.

Stances of the President came while meeting a delegation of the Federation of Private Educational Institutions in Lebanon, today at the Presidential Palace.

The delegation included the coordinator of the Federation, Father Youssef Nasr, Secretary-General of Catholic Schools, and: Sheikh Sami Abou Al-Mouna (Irfan Schools), Nizar Gharib (Amal Educational Institutions Schools), Hajj Mahmoud Abdullah (Al-Mahdi Schools), Alice Wazir (Evangelical Schools), Bella Daoun Khoury (Orthodox Schools), Ibrahim Alaa Al-Din (Al-Mabarrat Schools), Youssef Hamza (Orphan’s House, and Suhair Al-Zein (Maqased Schools).

During the meeting, Father Nasr briefed the President about a summary of the study prepared by the Federation of private Educational Institutions on the situation of these schools and the impact of the deterioration of the Lira exchange rate against the US Dollar, on the cost of educating school students, knowing that teachers and parents of the educated also suffer from this situation.

The Study also indicated that the average cost of educating one student for year 2021-2022, after correcting the cost of operating expenses directly related to the dollar exchange rate, in the actual market is corrected and an increase in salaries and wages equivalent to 30% is given without any modification in the grants and aid section, the average becomes 9.3 million pounds.

In addition, Father Nasr pointed out that the cost of buying textbooks has increased five times compared to the cost in September 2019, in addition to the cost of school transportation, and the teacher’s salary is now not enough to cover his basic needs.

Afterwards, several members spoke, and submitted a memorandum in which they wished the President to seek with donors and stakeholders to allocate a percentage of the donations which will reach Lebanon to the educational sector with the aim of supporting parents, teachers and schools, by providing an amount of 200$ for each student who is allowed to maintain the average school fee at its current value, and the issuance of a fuel card for schools administration and teachers.

For his part, the President discussed proposals with members of the delegation and stressed the necessity of holding an education conference to discuss all the points which were raised by the delegation.

Statement:

After the meeting, Father Nasr made the following statement:

“We are in September, and schools are just around the corner. There are huge challenges hindering the start of the academic year. Therefore, we visited Baabda Palace and met with His Excellency the President. We were accompanied by the Federation of Private Educational Institutions also.

We addressed the problems and challenges which hinder the start of the academic year, and we presented a study showing high educational costs in private educational institutions. Premiums have increased from an average of 4 and half million to above 9 million Lebanese Pounds, which constitutes a very high cost for parents.

As a result of our meeting with the President, we agreed to hold an emergency educational conference in coordination with the Education Minister. The conference will also include all ministries concerned with educational affairs to help facilitate the start of the school year and secure all the necessary supplies so that we can open all schools. This is a necessity since students have been far from schools for the 3rd year in a row, and the matter cannot continue like this. We need to open our schools so that normal life can return.

This conference will include all components of the educational family, and we call on all institutions, schools and committees to participate in order to address all issues together, under the auspices of the Presidential Palace, and His Excellency President Aoun.

All educational issues in Lebanon will be addressed to facilitate finding solutions”.

Questions & Answers:

In response to a question, Father Nasr emphasized that “We strive to remove all obstacles so that we can open the doors of our schools. We encourage the opening of the schools, but with the dissolution of all existing contracts, including teachers’ salaries and the high operating costs of the school, all of these matters are complicated and we must find solutions to them in order for the school to open its doors.

In response to a question about some schools raising premiums, Father Nasr answered “There may be some educational institutions that are able to withstand this increase, but not all of Lebanon’s schools are able to do so in light of the current economic hardship that parents are experiencing. The solution is the support of the state for the educational sector”.

Regarding the alternative, if schools do not open their doors this month, Father Nasr said: “We insist, in one word, as a union, on opening the doors of schools”.

In addition, Father Nasr stressed, in response to the reason for the union not taking a proactive step, that “Matters are constantly escalating and we are coming to the greatest. Therefore, we cannot delay any longer. We have been in contact with the Ministry of Education, and the Minister is doing his duty, but we have found that things cannot wait any longer. We need decisive solutions because we are on the cusp of the school year”.

Concerning the fate of the aid which reached some schools, Father Nasr stated that the aid which came to Catholic schools from the French Embassy was very small, and it constituted 2 percent of the school’s budget for the past year and it will continue for this academic year, but it is insufficient.

“Nothing solves our crisis but state support and intervention. The state is responsible for us, thanks to the gifts, friendly countries and donor institutions, but we have a state responsible for the educational sector, so let it bear its responsibility. And as you find solutions to other issues, you can find a solution for this sector because it affects all of our children” Father Nasr said.

“Who in the country does not have children or grandchildren in schools? Are they satisfied with their children staying at home? No one is satisfied with that at all. Are the teachers satisfied with keeping their children at home? No one is satisfied with that, and we all have an interest in returning to schools, which are a public need and interest. So we have to pay attention to this sector” Father Nasr concluded.

Source: National News Agency