ProFuturo explores education in refugee children in Lebanon

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The Fundación Telefónica and Fundación Bancaria La Caixa project is present in 326 schools of 13 countries of Latin America and Africa. It has trained 1,500 teachers.

A delegation of Fundación Telefónica and Fundación Bancaria “la Caixa” led by César Alierta has visited refugee camps in the Lebanon. The aim was to learn the educational reality of the country, and to introduce the digital education of ProFuturo, an initiative of both institutions. According to data from ACNUR, in recent years, the Lebanon has received over a million Syrian refugees, of which 79% are women and children.

ProFuturo has met with political, education and social leaders of the Lebanon, to study future collaborations. This project is developed by César Alierta himself, as president of Fundación Telefónica, and Isidro Fainé, president of Fundación Bancaria “la Caixa”.

ProFuturo continues making exploratory visits throughout the world, to bring quality education through technology, to the most vulnerable people in the world. On this occasion, César Alierta, president of Fundación Telefónica and trustee of Fundación Bancaria “la Caixa”; Sofía Fernández de Mesa, director of Fundación ProFuturo; Àngel Font, director of Strategy and People of Fundación Bancaria “la Caixa”; and José María Sanz-Magallón, managing director Fundación Telefónica, visited the Lebanon, to promote access to ProFuturo digital education for Syrian refugees and Lebanese children.

During the visit, ProFuturo met with political, education and social leaders of the country, to look into new ways of collaboration. They visited various schools and education centres, both in east Beirut and in the Bekaa valley.

Both Lebanese and Syrian teachers work at these schools. The schools are in the same area as the refugee camps, where the majority of pupils come from. There are around 500/600 children at each school, shared between two shifts, one in the morning from 8 am to 12 noon, and another in the afternoon from 12 noon to 4 pm.

According to ACNUR data, in recent years, the Lebanon has received approximately one million Syrian refugees, of which it is calculated that 79% are women and children. The Lebanese authorities believe there are another half a million Syrians not registered. The Lebanon continues to take in people from other countries. Refugees are mainly concentrated in coastal towns and in the region of Bekaa.

Education technology for social inclusion

In a world where it is estimated that over 50 million children do not attend school, and that 24 million will never go to school, digital education, understood as the use of information technology to accessibly provide quality contents, can improve levels of education in the most remote areas and in the most vulnerable contexts. This is the case in areas of conflict, for example, where the majority of non-schooled children live.

According to César Alierta, this is the reason why ProFuturo was founded with the goal of providing “equal opportunities to girls and boys in vulnerable environments, through personalized and innovative quality education, able to transform their learning and to provide tools for the future”. “We are convinced that we have the best opportunity of using technology to speed up development and social well-being of citizens, through digital education”, added Mr. Alierta.

 

In 2016. ProFuturo:

A project presented in 13 countries of Latin American and Africa

ProFuturo was created with the aim of transforming the education of 10 million children by 2020. It currently has active projects in thirteen countries, including Angola, Uganda, Colombia, Peru, Kenya, Tanzania and Guatemala. The ProFuturo personalized, digital education method has already been introduced in 328 schools, and over 1,500 teachers have been trained. 3 million children have received quality digital education, through education programmes of Fundación Telefónica.

ProFuturo explores education in refugee children in Lebanon
ProFuturo explores education in refugee children in Lebanon