More than 340 students and 77 teachers from four schools will receive career training and support.
The Education Above All (EAA) Foundation and Qatar Career Development Center (QCDC) have joined efforts to provide Assalam Schools’ students with career guidance and development, the Qatari organisations announced on Sunday.
Under the new agreement between both entities, more than 340 students and 77 teachers from four schools will receive career training and support.
The initiative includes events and workshops that help students have better employment and internship opportunities.
Teachers will also receive the needed tools and guidance to prepare students to enter the workforce through career counselling and training.
Under the joint Employability & Internships initiative, QCDC is set to provide students with access to its relevant programmes and internship opportunities.
“We are not just educating students, we are preparing them to make informed decisions about their futures. Our collaborative efforts will ensure that every student has the tools and opportunities to confidently pursue their aspirations,” Talal Al-Hathal, Director of EAA’s Al Fakhoora Programme, said.
EAA established the Al Fakhoora programme in 2010 to honour the victims of prior Israeli bombardments of Gaza. On October 10, 2023, Israel destroyed EAA’s Al-Fakhoora House, an educational facility in southern Gaza.
Its name is inspired by the Al-Fakhoura school in Jabalia, which Israel attacked on November 18, killing an estimated 200 displaced Palestinians sheltering inside the building.
EAA launched the Together Project (Together) initiative in 2017 under the Al Fakhoora programme to provide equal access to education for children in Qatar. The one-of-a-kind local project provided students from 31 nationalities in Qatar with more than 3,600 scholarships.
Together enabled the launch of the five Assalam Schools in partnership with Qatar’s Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
In 2019, EAA launched the first Assalam School and it has since provided education for students between grades one to six under the Cambridge International Curriculum.
The initiative aims to develop its projects in Qatar to close the gap in education while tackling barriers to receiving quality learning opportunities.
As of October 31, 2023, Together benefitted 8,067 people across more than 36 different nationalities and 36 private and five Assalam schools in Qatar.
It has received an annual QAR 33 million in funding through Awqaf, Qatar Charity, AFIF Charity and The Social and Sports Contribution Fund.
Established in 2012, EAA, in collaboration with other Qatari entities, has been providing a vital lifeline for students worldwide who have been displaced from their classrooms due to crises and conflict.
The number of out-of-school children and youth increased by six million between 2021 and 2023, reaching a total of 250 million, according to UNESCO.
There are nearly 15 million out-of-school children aged between five-to-14 in the MENA region, according to UNICEF. At least 10 million others in the region are at risk of dropping out of school, primarily due to conflict.
Meanwhile, the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza has disrupted education, leaving hundreds of thousands of students out of school for five months. The war affected more than 625,000 students and nearly 23,000 teachers in the Gaza Strip, disrupting an entire academic year, according to the United Nations.
The genocidal war entered its sixth month, with Israel killing more than 31,000 Palestinians.
