“Me and My School”: A project by GAV4RD to provide services to schools in Raqqa Province
GAV for Relief and Development launched “Me and my Schools” project on 20 March 2019, which aims to create a favorable environment for the residents and children of Raqqa city and the area of al-Qahtani in Raqqa suburb to engage them in the educational process in a coordinated and orderly manner, and encourage the displaced people to return to their liberated towns and villages, as a part of GAV4RD plan to respond to the needs of the education sector in the north-eastern regions of Syria.
“Me and my School” responds to the service requirements of 37 schools in Raqqa and its countryside, especially the ones mostly affected by the war which destroyed schools and caused harm to the classes, fences, benches and other infrastructure and materials. This harm is hindering the progress of the educational process in its desired form, and prevents children from having access to a suitable and appropriate educational environment after the safety has returned proportionally to the liberated areas.
The service response of “Me and My Schools” project addresses several aspects, including providing these schools with partial classroom needs, tables and chairs for teachers, stationery, chalk, games, cleaning materials and equipment, as well as the maintenance of billboards and blackboards in classrooms, with the aim of creating a conducive climate to the re-engagement of students in the educational process.
In addition, GAV4RD, through “Me and my Schools” project, will provide students in targeted schools with school bags (consisting of bags, teaching tools, pens, notebooks, etc.), with a total of 5180 beneficiaries, making it easier for children to return to school and reduce the financial burdens on their parents.
GAV4RD staff and volunteers will organize an opening ceremony for the targeted schools with the participation of local stakeholders and children’s parents. The ceremony will include the distribution of school bags, and the staff will directly survey the views of participants regarding the needs of the education sector and the contribution of relevant institutions to improve and increase the quality of education in those areas, as well as their views on the responsiveness of “Me and My School” project to those needs.
It is noteworthy that “Me and My School” project contributes partially to the improvement of the educational status in the targeted schools, as the size of needs and requirements is huge and requires additional efforts to cover all needs in war-affected schools. The surveys and evaluations carried out by GAV4RD shows the size of the urgent needs to rehabilitate schools in those areas, such as the rehabilitation of classrooms, the electrical network and fences surrounding schools, as a matter of course.
Since its inception in 2017, GAV4RD has been working to respond to the needs of the local community and IDPs in the north-eastern regions of Syria, and in 2019 the organization began a new phase of projects and activities that are critical to the development of the society and its recovery from the remnants of war at all levels.
