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International Medical Corps and UNICEF have joined forces to develop 25 Child-Friendly Schools in some of Lebanon’s most vulnerable regions: schools that take a holistic approach to education, through activities that advocate good health and hygiene, initiatives to promote children’s physical and emotional well-being, and environments that are conducive to learning. UNICEF’s $ 2.7 million grant to IMC will benefit an estimated 6,000 children, aged 3-15, living in 25 villages in four regions of Lebanon that have historically struggled with poverty and instability or were affected by last summer’s conflict.
An IMC assessment of 45 schools in the districts of Akkar, Hermel, Baalbek, and South Lebanon, conducted between November 2006 and March 2007, found a high rate of aggression and attention problems among students; it also revealed that there had been a significant drop in grades following the summer 2006 war. The study found several factors that might be inhibiting learning and child development. Teachers and administrators alike had little training or skills in dealing with mental health issues. Corporal punishment was used excessively. Play areas were nothing more than concrete spaces, with no grass or equipment for recreation. Most schools had no potable water available, no resting place for sick children, and no toilets. Furthermore, communication between the school and the children’s parents was very limited; as a result, communities did not feel a sense of ownership of their schools.
“Most of the schools we looked at were seriously neglected; there were little or no incentives for effective and efficient learning,” says IMC Psychosocial Coordinator, Zeinab Hijazi. “Children need a healthy, welcoming environment where they can exercise their creative, social, intellectual and physical energy.”
IMC’s new program, which began earlier this month, will dramatically re-shape 25 of these schools, transforming them into stimulating educational environments that encourage learning and development. To achieve these goals, IMC, in collaboration with Lebanon’s Ministry of Education and UNICEF, plans to train teachers to understand and identify behavioral problems in children and address them creatively; to offer teachers health education and first-aid training; to rehabilitate playgrounds and provide schools with toys and recreational equipment; and to encourage parents to become involved in decisions about their children’s health and well-being both at school and in the community.
IMC was one of the first international NGOs to begin relief activities in Lebanon in July 2006, in response to the humanitarian crisis caused by the war between Hezbollah and Israel. Since launching operations there, IMC has rehabilitated approximately 40 health clinics and six water reservoirs damaged in the conflict, in addition to establishing nine child-friendly play spaces.
