Refugee Rights Lebanon Project #49945

Kindergarten for 100 Syrian children in Lebanon

by Refugee Empowerment International

Project Report | May 25, 2022
Children from different backgrounds

By Jane Best | Project leader

It's fun too!

The students in the kindergarten come from a variety of backgrounds.

They all come from Syria and Palestinian Lebanese refugee communities but they may be Syrian, Syrian Palestinan, or Palestinian Lebanese for example.
They live in what is defined as a gathering – an informal refugee camp not serviced by the UN agency that serves in formal refugee camps. As the gatherings are generally a housing option of last resort for economically disadvantaged people, all refugees living there are considered to be poor.
This creates further tensions beyond the deprivations of being a refugee and domestic abuse is common.

Naturally these tensions affect the children and so the kindergarten staff look out for signs of abuse and bullying. To do this, the teachers and teaching assistants work on strengthening relationships between the host Lebanese Palestinian community children and the refugees from Syria helping to reduce student bullying, community tensions and conflict.

Since interactive psychosocial activities have been incorporated into the curriculum, as mentioned in a previous report, cases of domestic violence in some families of children have been detected and followed up by the specialized staff.

One 4 year-old in KG1 was showing signs of neglect and the staff noticed he didn’t play with other children and didn’t share in activities. His family background is complicated because he is Lebanese but his family was living in Syria before the war. After contacting his family the kindergarten staff learnt that he has one brother and but no mother or father. His father died in Syria during the war before he was born and his mother died in a car accident when he was 2 years old.
He was living in the gathering with his aunt and his grandmother. The psycho-social assistant worked with him in a special, but indirect, way. With continuous follow up he started to play with his friends and he started to talk at the class. He generally improved psychologically.

The kindergarten provides this valuable psycho-social support as well as essential early learning.

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Jan 31, 2022
Combining study with games

By Jane Best | Project leader

Class games

The current school year started in October 2021 with 114 children registering for the kindergarten. For various reasons, such as health or economic factors, there were a few drop-outs and the final number of children starting school is 103.

There were a few changes of staff but most of the teachers continued from the previous school year.

Whereas some teaching had been conducted online using WhatsApp groups and video during the strict COVID lockdowns, all classes are now being conducted in-person.

The children are divided into 5 classes, each one with a teacher and teaching assistant and they continue to use material approved by the Ministry of Education.

Psycho-social activities continue to be embedded in the curriculum, in particular addressing the problem of bullying. Sessions dealing with psycho-social issues such as resilience, team work, self-confidence and bullying are given on a regular monthly basis per class. Through these activities, cases of domestic violence in some families are detected and followed up by the specialized staff.

Teachers receive weekly capacity building training on how to handle children with social difficulties and how to communicate skills to them. In addition, the staff hold monthly parent meetings where multiple issues are discussed that center around their children’s behavior and improvement. Parents are given advice and tips on how to handle situations of aggression and bullying among their children.

One 6 year old Syrian child had many problems at the beginning of the 2020/2021 school year. He would cry for hours during the day asking the teachers when he will be back with his mother. It was evident that he was having problems adjusting to the new setting. So the teacher and pyscho-social assistant set several goals to help him. They mixed teaching methods with games to make it more interesting for him and gave him stickers and stars on his notebook accompanied by a pep talk. Later, when he started showing improvement, the teacher assigned him as her assistant in the classroom to reinforce his independence and responsibility.
In his final evaluations the student had good grades and he also took the lead in part of the graduation ceremony.

Your support is providing a future for young Syrian children like this 6-year-old. Thank you.

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Oct 11, 2021
Kindergarten stepping stone to Elementary school

By Jane Best | Project leader

Activities at the kindergarten are severely restricted at the moment due to problems in Lebanon including power cuts and food shortages. The teachers do the best to keep contact with all the students and their families but are unable to conduct regular classes.

In this report we would like to share two stories from previous meetings with students and parents at the kindergarten.

One student was in her last year at the kindergarten and was quite excited about moving on to elementary school. We asked about her life and where her family was from in Syria. However, she did not remember because she was born in Lebanon, so that is what she knows and, thanks to the kindergarten, where her friends are. The young Syrian told us how much she enjoyed the classes because she can play, sing and dance with her friends.
Her father and grandfather are working in Germany to support the family, so her mother cares for her and her brother and grandmother.
She graduated from the kindergarten a year after we met her and she was able to start Lebanese elementary school.

We met a Syrian woman who had fled Syria with her husband five years before. They are from Damascus and told us how they had to move four times within Syria to keep safe before arriving in Lebanon. Their two daughters were born in Lebanon and she heard about the kindergarten through the community at her mosque. She enrolled the oldest daughter in the kindergarten and was delighted with the education and kindness of the staff. Her daughter was quite lonely at first and she struggled with her pronunciation, often sitting alone. Socialising at school helped her a great deal and her confidence grew to the extent that she now talks easily.

That was three years ago and her eldest daughter is now ready to graduate and move on to elementary school while her youngest daughter is ready to enroll in the kindergarten.

We hope that school can resume its regular activities soon.

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