Education in displacement camps faces a significant and difficult challenge in countries and regions afflicted by wars or natural disasters, such as Gaza, Syria, Yemen, Sudan, and Lebanon, especially after the severe damage inflicted on educational infrastructure.
Students are forcibly absent from education at all levels due to the lack of conditions that would enable their return to formal education. Schools have been converted into shelters, many students and teachers have lost their lives, and basic services like electricity and the internet are frequently unavailable.
In light of this dire reality, the issue of returning displaced children to the classroom imposes itself as a critical topic of discussion. There is an urgent need for international efforts and community solidarity to halt the deprivation of education and ensure at least a basic level of learning to protect the new generation from the dangers of illiteracy and ignorance.
There are real-world efforts aimed at dealing with this situation with flexibility and resilience, such as educational tents for children in Gaza. These tents provide remedial classes in reading, writing, and mathematics for children after more than 90% of the schools in the area were damaged by ongoing bombings, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Other applied solutions include offering remote learning systems, as was done in Lebanon during its war with the Israeli enemy, and implementing free accelerated education programs supported by UNICEF.
"Accelerated education" relies on a series of academic curricula that children need to pass before their eligibility for formal education is evaluated. This includes teaching basic skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic.
In Syria, the absence of school textbooks posed a significant challenge to the educational process. However, a notable initiative launched by Qatar Charity years ago played a crucial role in creating a conducive environment for encouraging children to return to school, particularly in northern Syria. The organization printed over 9 million textbooks covering all core subjects for all stages of basic education, benefiting more than a million students.
Meanwhile, Egypt plays a major role in trying to provide Sudanese refugee children with the right to education through alternative schools and educational centers supported by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). It also hosts Sudanese certificate exams for primary, middle, and secondary stages in Egyptian schools.
A pioneering experience is being carried out by the Istanbul-based organization "Ghiras Al-Khair," which offers programs to sponsor teachers in displacement areas. It provides monthly salaries for teachers and equips them with essential educational tools while working on improving the educational environment for displaced children.
In this context, Karen Mundy, Director of UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning, advises preparing crisis response and recovery plans, training teachers to work under difficult conditions such as displacement, and supporting educational systems during crises.
Specialized Curricula
A recent study titled "Educational Needs of Refugee Students in Educational Institutions in Egypt" emphasizes that education preserves refugees' lives, grants them the right to a future, and enables them to become good citizens in the host country and later in their homeland. It also makes them active elements in peace-building and not tools for war, thereby enhancing conflict prevention, facilitating post-conflict transitions, and ensuring successful reconstruction.
UNICEF has developed what it calls the "Emergency Curriculum" for displaced and refugee children, which provides a condensed curriculum focusing on four subjects: Arabic, Mathematics, Science, and English.
Educational experts stress that such curricula should promote integration by offering social, linguistic, and cultural support, fostering interaction between displaced persons, refugees, and the host community, while respecting cultural and social differences. They should also work towards increasing adaptability to new circumstances and improving opportunities for learning, work, and integration.
However, the needs of displaced and refugee communities, particularly in areas that suffered repression (Syria as an example) or genocide (Gaza as an example), require specialized, conscious, and mature curricula. These must address the psychological insecurity experienced by displaced individuals while also providing intellectual nourishment in response to their questions about the suffering they endure, whose effects may last for decades.
It is crucial to develop tailored educational content for students in such regions that reinforces national identity, pride in the homeland and holy sites, and the values of patience and perseverance. This content should protect children from despair, instill courage and heroism, and prepare them for rebuilding their countries after the wars.
Investing in the children of these countries after the wars requires a deep understanding of their suffering, needs, and goals, as well as how they aspire to build a new nation and preserve the gains of revolutions or victories. It also involves acknowledging their sacrifices and guiding their efforts toward planning, building, and managing their future.
These curricula must necessarily stop distorting history, eliminate historical inaccuracies, and halt the misrepresentation of resistance. They must also restore the rightful place of early Muslim history, the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), and his companions, instill love for Al-Aqsa Mosque in students' hearts, educate them on their duties toward the homeland, and teach them the reality of the conflict with the Zionist enemy while establishing resistance as a strategic option for liberating Palestine.
Furthermore, these curricula should promote the spirit of consultation (shura), freedom, democracy, acceptance of differing opinions, and rejection of injustice, exclusion, oppression, sectarianism, and racism—issues deeply rooted by dictatorial regimes, occupying governments, and Western organizations promoting ideas and values that contradict Islamic principles.
-------------------------------------------------------------
