Learning as a driver for social cohesion
Integration of Syrian refugees in Egyptian communities

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Refugee and migrant children in Egypt need support to overcome difficulties in accessing quality education and training in an inclusive and enabling learning environment, which equips them with relevant foundational and transferable skills needed for work and prepares them for the transition from school-to-work, from learning to earning.
Since 2021, UNICEF and CARE have been working on a program that aims to create an inclusive and enabling learning environment for refugee and migrant children and enhance the quality and relevance of learning in targeted refugee community schools and public schools hosting refugee and migrant children. The programme is funded by the generous contributions from the PROSPECTS – a partnership between the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), the International Labour Organization (ILO), the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). The joint programme provides a comprehensive training package to 1,500 teachers in targeted schools. The training package increases the awareness of school managers and teachers about refugee rights as well as their capacities to create an inclusive and enabling learning environment in public schools that host refugee and migrant children. In addition, the teachers are trained on the Life Skills and Citizenship Education (LSCE) extra-curricular toolkit, which was developed in line with the Education 2.0 reform currently being rolled-out by the Ministry of Education and Technical Education (MoETE).
In total, 15,000 students will be engaged in life skills activities focusing on seven themes (such as living together, acceptance and diversity, ending violence, among others), reinforcing the 14 identified life skills, which enhance the quality and relevance of education in targeted schools, leading to students being better equipped to enter the labor market in the future.
In this photo essay, we explore the story of Syrian teachers and students who attend ‘Syria Al Ghad’ school in Al Obour City, in the outskirts of Cairo, who benefitted from the comprehensive teacher trainings and life skills activities through the program’s generous contributions under the Prospects program – a partnership between the Netherlands, IFC, ILO, UNHCR and UNICEF.

Abeer Yasser, a Syrian teacher and Master trainer who received the Life Skills and Citizenship Education (LSCE) comprehensive training package under the program to cascade the training to other teachers said: “I am very happy to receive the UNICEF-supported learning training. I enjoyed it a lot as I learned new and innovative skills and learned about new teaching techniques through the teaching, facilitation, and classroom management skills sessions. I was also trained on online teaching skills which is extremely beneficial during COVID-19 pandemic to ensure continuity of students learning.”
“The training changed my way of thinking and attitudes, now I put myself in the students’ shoe and can understand easily what will be beneficial and exciting to them in order for them to be engaged in the innovative learning process and succeed academically. I feel very happy and rewarded when I see the students enjoying the extracurricular activities and awareness sessions. I also feel very empowered to cascade and share the knowledge with other teachers.” Abeer added.

11 years old Jana from Syria, studying at Syria El Ghad community school said that at first when she joined the school, she didn’t like to play with boys because they were violent, and she was bullied by her colleagues as she was a newcomer. However, after receiving the awareness session against violence and girls’ empowerment session supported by the program, children’s attitudes changed towards each other and they accepted each other. Boys became less violent as well; especially that at first boys felt superior. “We learned about different types of violence and about social inclusion and acceptance. We also knew that there are no differences between girls and boys and that we all have the same rights and duties. This changed our attitudes and lives, as I taught what I learnt to my younger brothers at home” said Jana.

Mohannad, 12 years old from Syria, said: “When we came to Egypt, I had language barriers and I was expecting to have difficulties in dealing with Egyptians. However, after joining the school and the life skills sessions, my communication and cooperation skills were developed, and I wasn’t afraid to make Egyptian friends. I also found out that Egyptians are very friendly and welcoming. I have five Egyptian friends now with whom I go to play football every day after school. They understood my dialect very fast and now I speak the Egyptian dialect too.”

Through the program, which is implemented by UNICEF and CARE in public and refugee community schools, over 3534 refugee and migrant students benefitted from a more inclusive and enabling learning environment and improved quality and relevance of education till date and are now better equipped to move from school-to-work and from learning to earning in the future.