Dubai Cares launches school programme for Mosul children

Dubai

Dubai Cares, part of Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives, has rolled out a one-year emergency support programme for a safe return to school for 4,800 children in Mosul, Iraq after the liberation of the city from Daesh.

The programme, called Supporting a Return to Education in Mosul City’, is part of Dubai Cares’ Education in Emergencies strategy aimed to address the urgent educational needs of children affected by war and natural disasters.

Children account for almost 50 per cent of those who were trapped in Mosul or forced to flee during military operations to drive out Daesh.

The $500,000 (Dh1.84 million) Dubai Cares programme, launched in partnership with “War Child UK”, will focus on providing quality education in safe and inclusive spaces to conflict-affected children in 12 schools in western Mosul.

Over a period of one year, the programme will also work with key education stakeholders in the Ministry of Education in Iraq to contribute to strengthening the Education in Emergencies (EiE) response, enabling these stakeholders to better deliver such responses in the future, Dubai Cares said.

Tareq Al Gurg, CEO of Dubai Cares, said: “The plight of children in Mosul starkly illustrates the immediate and long-term fragility of societies riven by conflict and the urgency of addressing their needs, with education being of paramount importance. Not only is education a fundamental human right, it is absolutely essential to the rebuilding of Mosul’s social fabric and to its future. Without swift, focused, tailored, and tangible action, the risk of generations of children and young people missing out on the education that they desperately need intensifies.”

As part of the programme, 12 schools will also be rehabilitated, enabling 4,800 children to return to school. It is expected that some 7,200 community members will benefit from outreach activities throughout the lifespan of the programme. This will bring the total number of expected beneficiaries of this programme to 12,200.