Among all the sad aspects of the refugee crisis, children in refugee camps going without any education--sometimes for years--has to be one of the saddest. Ten million kids under the age of 8 are displaced.
Fortunately, there are occasional rays of light, such as adult refugees deciding to start their own school. And here is a story from Mashable about a partnership between the International Rescue Committee and the makers of Sesame Street.
Matt Petronzio writes, "A new partnership between Sesame Workshop, the brand's educational nonprofit, and global humanitarian aid organization International Rescue Committee (IRC) will allow the two groups to develop, distribute, and test educational resources and programs designed with young refugees in mind. ...
"The first phase is to develop educational multimedia content that can reach children living in displaced or resettled communities through mobile devices, radio, TV and printed materials in engaging, enjoyable ways.
"Sesame Workshop and the IRC will adapt existing Sesame products and content for regions where the two organizations already have a presence working with young children and their families. ...
"The partnership is aimed at the children who make up half of the record 60 million people currently displaced around the world, specifically the one-third of that population under the age of eight. In addition to a lack of education, these children also often deal with toxic stress and trauma.
" 'We've seen time and time again, in the context of conflict and crisis, that those very young children don't have a safety net to support them,' Sarah Smith, senior director for education at the IRC, told Mashable. ...
"Most recently
"Zari's gender was a deliberate choice to promote girls' empowerment — an example of tailoring curricular goals to the needs of a particular country. (According to Sarah Westin, executive vice president at Sesame Workshop, recent research showed that fathers in Afghanistan changed their minds about sending their daughters to school after watching Baghch-e-Simsim, the local language version of Sesame Street.)"
Caroline Ellis of SuzannesMomsBlog submitted this post.