Education Crisis Faced by Syrian Refugee Children to be Addressed by Mobile Learning
New York, NY (PRWEB) December 01, 2015 -- Aliim, a nonprofit based in New York, believes that the Syrian refugee education crisis can be addressed with mobile learning, and just launched a crowdfunding campaign on November 23, 2015 to do just that. Following 4 years of conflict, more than 2.7 million Syrian children don’t have access to any kind of education. Despite the best efforts of world aid organizations and host countries, these children are now verging on becoming a lost generation. Lebanon, host to one of the highest concentrations of refugees, has no room left in schools, leaving 80% of refugee children out of school.
Janae Bushman, founder of Aliim, sought a way to address the education needs of the 80% out of school, starting with the most vulnerable. But it takes a unique approach to address this unique scenario, “Our Smartphone Schools Program does not require a school house, nor the resources of a traditional classroom. With our mobile learning framework and our growing network of mentors, we have the ability to grow as fast as we can get mobile learning devices into the hands of refugees. A simple Android smartphone becomes a refugee child's classroom,” explains Janae.
Aliim’s IndieGoGo crowdfunding campaign launched on November 23, 2015, to raise money needed to pilot their Smartphone Schools Program. The program will be launched in Lebanon for 250 Syrian refugee children, with a primary focus on girls who are typically excluded more than boys from schooling, due to safety concerns. Girls are particularly at risk of forced child marriage, which has increased significantly since the beginning of the war.
Already having raised 6% of their campaign goal the first day, Aliim is hopeful support will continue to grow, and will make a big splash on Giving Tuesday, “We are truly grateful to everyone who donates to our IndieGoGo campaign. When people think on the blessings of their own education, and realize that these refugee children’s hopes and dreams of becoming doctors, lawyers, and teachers is almost completely dwindled away, they are very willing to give to the Smartphone Schools Program,” says Janae.
As the Smartphone Schools Program shows success, Aliim plans to scale the program to reach thousands of additional refugees in Lebanon, and expand the program to Jordan, Turkey, and to Europe. Janae concluded, “We are hoping other international development and educational organizations will adopt our mobile learning framework for use in their own programs, which can multiply the potential impact for refugee children exponentially.”
Janae Bushman, Founder, Aliim, http://www.aliim.org, +1 (408) 599-4238, [email protected]
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