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Syrian adolescents face many barriers to education in Lebanon—less than 1% are enrolled in Grade 9 and less than 4% are enrolled in secondary school, the latter of which is on the extreme end of the global average of 34% of refugees accessing secondary school. In addition, in Lebanon, many families cannot afford to enroll their children in secondary school, where they would normally prepare to take the Lebanese Baccalaureate exam, a formal qualification that is a common prerequisite for accessing university, further training, and decent work
Thus, most Syrian students have significant gaps in their education, which only increased after the pandemic and is continuing to grow with the economic crisis—in fact, 15%of households have stopped their children’s education and 52% have reduced spending on education. Other barriers include securing legal documents, unrealistic registration deadlines, foreign language requirements, working to generate income for their families, and parents being unable to pay tuition fees.
In response, in 2021, Jusoor expanded its High School Scholarships (HSS) with a sense of urgency to support refugee adolescents to complete Grades 10–12 in Lebanon. We provide tuition fees, transportation costs, extra support classes, university application support, as well as psychosocial support, to ensure bright young Syrian youth in Lebanon can complete their secondary school education.
How can we ensure equal access to education for refugee students and address the multitude of barriers they face in order to empower and support their pursuit of higher education and bright future opportunities?
Our Intervention
Jusoor’s approach is focused on facilitating social mobility and sustainable support to enable our students to have full access to educational opportunities. To accomplish this, we provide quality resources to high school teachers and staff in response to the context that many schools suffered financially and lost several teachers who are seeking better salaries elsewhere; families can no longer afford their children’s tuition; and students are apprehensive given their lack of preparation for taking the Lebanese Baccalaureate.
Accordingly, the scholarship provided to schools, covers a student's tuition fees, transportation, and teachers’ salaries for extra support classes in English and other subjects (e.g., Physics, Chemistry, Math, Sciences, and Economics). Jusoor also provides books, stationery, and printed materials; classroom supervisors; registration fees for their Lebanese Baccalaureate exams; university application support; and both individual and group psychosocial support counseling.
In addition, we provide teacher training on assessment strategies, teaching methods, classroom management, and class activities, followed by an orientation session for the parents. Throughout the program, our goal is to monitor and support the increase in our students’:
- Academic performance and success rate
- Motivation levels
- Psychosocial wellbeing
- Sense of safety and well-being
- Attendance
- Reported benefit from university application support to facilitate the exploration of universities and majors and inspire them to make informed decisions about their future careers.
Our project includes a full monitoring and evaluation plan to conduct surveys and interviews, analyze them, and respond to the data collected.
Our High School Students
We piloted the HSS at Tuyoor Al-Amal School (TAS) in Tripoli, starting with 30 students and increasing to 100 students by 2022. We chose to work with TAS due to their commitment to providing affordable, quality education to Syrian and Lebanese communities since 2013. The school’s founder also maintains close relationships with the local community, ensuring trust and transparency. By the next academic year of 2023-24, Jusoor will support 150 students at Tuyoor Al-Amal School. In parallel, the HSS expanded to support 60 students at Jusoor’s Jurahiya Education Center in the Bekaa and is now expanding to reach 70 students at the Rouwad School in Khalde for the 2023–24 academic year. By next year, HSS will support around 280 students overall. In addition, the set of teachers at our partner schools shows a diversity of Syrian, Palestinian, and Lebanese instructors.
Our Impact
Our High School Scholarships improve students’ development in four key areas:
- Intellectual Development
- Language
- Socio-Emotional
- Growth Mindset
“This scholarship was a new gateway to university life and academic performance, as it provided me with the opportunity to study without worrying about the school fees that I had to pay, which was a big obstacle for my family.”
Aisha Al Yassouf, Grade 12 Student, Tuyoor Al-Amal School
160 of 15-21 year old students in grades 10-12 in our Tuyoor Al-Amal School & Jurahiya Center
96% of students who attended school (vs. 75% last year)
83.5% who report an increase in motivation levels
Power Us!
If you are keen to join us to transform lives and forge pathways to success for Syrian children and youth, we would be thrilled to make this vision a reality together. fundraising@jusoor.ngo.
