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7.4.2022

Dubai launches initiative to educate refugee children

By 2026, Dubai aims to develop an online education platform, accessible to one million refugee children. The emirate aims to make education a right for all.

This initiative, launched in 2020, has been implemented in five countries this year: Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Mauritania and Colombia. Up to 20,000 students have access to a digital school and 500 teachers have been trained on the platform. In addition, no less than 120 educational centers are planned to be built, offering educational content in Arabic, English, French and Spanish.

Technology for access to education

The Digital School is a project launched by a cooperation between Dubai-based institutions such as Dubai Cares, the Emirates Red Crescent and the Authority for Knowledge and Human Development. The initiative also brings together more than 35 international educational and research organizations such as UNESCO, UNICEF, and Harvard.

The initiative aims to build connected learning centers in refugee camps and remote areas around the world. With the help of local communities, the authorities in charge of the project have designed a number of buildings ready to overcome the technological challenges of online schooling, in particular by making the Internet more accessible.

See also

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Learning tablets

While not a high-end service, the first schools to go live are able to provide a functional educational application on touch tablets. The online school is also adapted to the educational program of each country and to the rhythm of each child thanks to the supervision of a facilitator in classes.

Above all, this initiative aims to provide continuity in the children’s educational journey as well as to help them develop resilience in complex circumstances. Dubai hopes to foster a sense of belonging for these children through a community of students, especially since education is a key to peace.

Published on 4 July 2022

#Dubai