Sharjah foundation to build school for deaf in Palestine
sharjah — The Big Heart Foundation (TBHF), Sharjah-based charity, will establish a large scale secondary school for students with hearing impairment in the West Bank, Palestine. ‘The Big Heart School’ aims to help those with hearing disabilities improve their academic performance through the provision of specialist educational facilities that cater to their personal and academic requirements.
An agreement was signed recently at the headquarters of the municipality of Qalqilya to construct the school at a total cost of $2.5 million, with the initiative coming as part of TBHF’s efforts to support the Palestinian people and to alleviate the ordeals of in-need community segments in the Occupied Territories.
Located in the strategic northern West Bank city of Qalqilya, The Big Heart School will be administered in partnership with Welfare Association, Palestine’s largest non-profit organisation. Serving as a meeting point between all Palestinian cities, Qalqilya will facilitate access to 45,000 students of different age groups with hearing difficulties in the West Bank.
The Big Heart School project, extending across an area of 2,000sqm, will include a high school and a dormitory designed to serve students between five and 18 years of age from all Palestinian cities and governorates. The move has been widely praised by Palestinians who have expressed their gratitude and appreciation for the humanitarian initiatives implemented by TBHF in their homeland.
“This project is one of the most important initiatives that we are implementing in Palestine as it addresses important gaps and needs of children with hearing impairment and provides them with an education that matches that of their hearing peers,” said Mariam Al Hammadi, director of TBHF.
Al Hammadi stressed the importance of the project in opening up new horizons for students with hearing difficulties as they now have the opportunity to pursue quality secondary stage education beyond the primary stage that they were formerly restricted to.
Dr Tafeeda Jarbawi, directorgeneral of the Welfare Association, expressed her thanks and appreciation to TBHF for its generous support and funding of the school, which will comprise five floors featuring 16-18 classrooms, a library, computer rooms, dormitories for male and female students and a section to provide examinations and therapy for students with expressive and receptive language difficulties.
Set for completion within two years, the Big Heart School will help tackle the low literacy rate among deaf students in the Palestinian community.