Children, Play and Education (EJE) organized on March 17th 2010 at Le Petit Prince, the French Palestinian school in Bethlehem a roundtable discussion on education in emergency situations facilitated by Dr. Saeda Afouneh, head of continuous education and community service center at Al-Quds Open University.
The idea behind organizing such an event, which was attended by people with different educational backgrounds, was to raise awareness of a number of educators, university students, parents, school principals and teachers on the importance of education in emergency situations.
Mr. Jack Neno, general coordinator of EJE, welcomed the participants and stressed the importance of education especially for Palestinian children who are living under continuous emergency situation.
Then Dr. Saeda Afouneh introduced the topic by stating two short stories:
Story 1: During her travel from Ramallah to Bethlehem, she was trapped between children who were throwing stones at the Israeli soldiers at Qalandia checkpoint and the soldiers who were shooting at them. “At least 3 children were shoot” said Afouneh. She raised a number of questions: Is that the place where our children are supposed to be? Shouldn’t they be at their schools? Is it the only way through which we can express our love to our country?
Story 2: Once she was substituting one of the teachers at one of Ramallah schools. She asked fifth graders to close their eyes and have a dream about their school. When pupils were asked to open their eyes and talk about their dreams, nearly all of them noted that they like to see a garden and a play ground inside their school. One of the pupils dreamt that an Israeli bulldozer has destroyed the school. When she asked him to have another dream, his dream in the second time was not different from the dreams of his peers.
Dr. Afouneh indicated that there is a difference between children who live under stable and safe situation and those living under an emergency situation as the case with Palestinian children. Dr. Afouneh stressed the following issues:
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Children have the right to education.
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Children have the right to protection.
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Parents and teachers should be aware of education in emergency situations.
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The need to develop counseling programs for children.
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Schools should be safe places for children.
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The need to prepare a special educational package for pupils that they can use in emergency situations.
Then participants discussed the Palestinian curricular and school system that is based on memorization and dictation rather than creative thinking. Dr. Afouneh referred to a study that she conducted sometime ago. Children were asked to indicate what courses and lessons they like to see at their school. Majority of those surveyed expressed their need for lessons in art, drawing, languages, dance, music, first aid and psycho-social release.
For Dr, Afouneh, to play is considered a very important element in shaping children’s characters.
The discussion was very interesting and welcomed by all the participants. EJE intends to continue encouraging reflection on education by organizing other roundtables of this kind.
