Award for pioneering education programme
A Chichester charity has received an award for pioneering a digital learning programme which has helped Rohingya refugee children receive an education over the past decade.
Children on the Edge has helped 7,500 children in the Kutupalong camp, Bangladesh, overcome language barriers by translating or dubbing educational content into the Rohingya dialect and providing the technology necessary for them to receive an education.
Children on the Edge won the Lenovo education prize in this year’s Abilitynet Tech4good awards, which recognises outstanding digital achievement in education.
Rich Henderson, director of global education solutions at Lenovo, said: “Learning about the transformative work of Children on the Edge was uplifting, especially given the current tech and education divide.
“The organisation’s efforts should propel all other individuals and organisations in the tech space to follow suit by putting digital tech to good use.”
Over a million Rohingya refugees have fled violence in Myanmar in regular waves of
displacement since the early 1990s, and more than 742,000 people have sought refuge in Bangladesh since August 2017, over half of which were children.
Children on the Edge has been ensuring access to education for Rohingya refugee children in the Kutupalong camp since 2009; originally creating low-profile schools to enable learning for thousands who were cut off from services.
While the Bangladesh government currently allows education in the camp, children are not permitted to learn in Bangla and there is no universally recognised script for the Rohingya language,
which means the workbookbased education is severely limited.
To tackle this problem, Children on the Edge provided 75 smartphones and battery powered projectors to their schools in the camps.
Their digital team at Mukti Cox’s Bazar translated or dubbed existing digital educational content into the Rohingya dialect, which sent via Whatsapp to teachers’ smartphones, which slot into the battery-powered projectors in the classrooms.
After the initial pilot, children expressed joy and disbelief to be able to finally understand the lessons being presented.
Digital lessons are now delivered twice a day across all classrooms in the camps and their sister schools in the Cox’s Bazar communities.
Rohingya refugee children have also gone on to use the technology to have their voices heard and to interact outside the camps.
Through their own online platform, Moja kids, they have recorded dozens of ‘green screen’ and outdoor news videos, which have been shared back and forth between camp and community schools.
Theaimisthatthisplatform will become a global online community for children to be able express their ideas and talents, connecting and communicating beyond the confines of their challenging surroundings.
John Littleton, Asia regional manager for Children on the Edge, said: “Seeing themselves on screen was literally jaw dropping and resulted in entire classrooms jumping upto clap andcheer.”
As the result of a recent Crowdfunder, simple tech equipment is already being sourced for three thriving Child Rights Clubs supported by Children on the Edge in Uganda, so they can connect with children in Bangladesh and be the next set of voices to share their thoughts and experiences through Moja Kids.