UNRWA IN GAZA COMMENCES ITS ANNUAL SUMMER LEARNING PROGRAM;
SECOND CHANCE EDUCATION FOR REFUGEE CHILDREN
12 June 2015
This week, UNRWA in Gaza started its annual Summer Learning Program (SLP). This program provides children who failed Arabic, Mathematics or both the opportunity to level up and move to the next grade level.
The students who failed Arabic or Math have been informed to attend the SLP. These children will attend special classes and study material in Arabic and Mathematics, prepared by UNRWA’s Education specialists. They will attend school for 18 days starting from 8 June, 2015 from 7:45 to 10:45 am. They then have an opportunity to sit the SLP final exams – for Arabic on 29 June and for Mathematics on 30 June.
Oday Tariq Baker, 12 years old, is a 6th grader at UNRWA New Gaza Preparatory Boys "C" School. Oday says, "I am very happy with the Summer Learning Program as it helps me improve my academic performance and provides me with a great opportunity to succeed and join my fellow students in the next school level."
Twelve year old Dalia Awni Abu Nahla, a 6th grader at UNRWA Beach Preparatory Girls "B" School, says, "I was extremely upset when I failed in Arabic language. Then I registered with the UNRWA Summer Learning Program and I started to enjoy myself. This program gives me the opportunity to succeed and continue learning with my friends."
In this regard, Farid Abu Athra, Chief of UNRWA’s Education Programme in Gaza says, “I am very proud of this programme as it gives the children a second chance to catch up with what they missed. With all the difficult circumstances the children are going through here in the Gaza Strip, I think a second chance to those children is particularly important.”
UNRWA introduced the Summer Learning Program in 2008. This year, 25,600 students who failed in Arabic, Mathematics or both are participating in SLP at UNRWA schools in the Gaza Strip. UNRWA operates 252 schools for about 240,000 Palestine refugee students.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
UNRWA is a United Nations agency established by the General Assembly in 1949 and is mandated to provide assistance and protection to a population of some 5 million registered Palestine refugees. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank and the Gaza Strip to achieve their full potential in human development, pending a just solution to their plight. UNRWA’s services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, and microfinance.
Financial support to UNRWA has not kept pace with an increased demand for services caused by growing numbers of registered refugees, expanding need, and deepening poverty. As a result, the Agency's General Fund (GF), supporting UNRWA’s core activities and 97 per cent reliant on voluntary contributions, has begun each year with a large projected deficit. Currently the deficit stands at more than US$ 106 million.
For more information, please contact:
Christopher Gunness
Spokesperson, Director of Advocacy & Strategic Communications
Mobile:
+972 (0)54 240 2659
Office:
+972 (0)2 589 0267
Sami Mshasha
Chief of Communications & Arabic Language Spokesperson
Mobile:
+972 (0)54 216 8295
Office:
+972 (0)2 589 0724
Milina Shahin
Public Information Officer – Gaza Field Office
Mobile:
+972 599 609 485
Office:
+972 8 2887213
Document Sources: United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA)
Subject: Children, Education and culture, Gaza Strip
Publication Date: 12/06/2015