A Christian satellite broadcasting organisation is to help meet the desperate need for education among the millions of children forced out of school across the Middle East and North Africa by war.
An estimated 13 million children have had their education disrupted or terminated because of various conflicts. Schools that have not been destroyed are overcrowded, and the fear of violence has caused parents to keep their children at home and teachers to abandon their posts. Families flee conflict to save their lives, leaving behind their homes and jobs, and putting at risk their children's futures.
According to SAT-7, these children are in danger of becoming a 'lost' generation. So the broadcaster is to launch SAT-7 ACADEMY on September 1, a service broadcasting round the clock in Arabic offering millions of displaced or refugee children complementary learning opportunities through a variety of television programmes.
For children who are either out of school or need supplementary schooling it will supply academic, emotional, and psychological support. For parents, its content is designed to help them better raise their children. For teachers, it will aim to model and equip them with creative teaching methods.
Channel manager Juliana Sfeir said: 'The need is enormous, the dream is colossal, and the time is ripe. I believe, we will soon witness societies without violence and classrooms with creative teaching.'
She added: 'I am eager to see this channel bring learning to the hearts and minds of refugees and our region's most underserved children, youth, parents, and poorly equipped educators.'
SAT-7 is also launching an online e-learning centre. Viewers will be able to log on via laptops and mobile devices to customised profiles with courses that enable them to learn at their own pace.
SAT-7 ACADEMY will be broadcast free-to-air from the Nilesat satellite to an audience across the Middle East and North Africa. Additionally, the channel will be viewable via online streaming to Arabic-speakers living around the world.
'Through this new channel and the different online platforms bearing our already trusted name, we will provide essential educational services to thousands of families who are in circumstances of considerable hardship. They will be able to access our learning content from any place, at any moment and, soon, through any device,' said SAT-7 Founder and CEO, Dr Terence Ascott.
