A+ A-

Weekly roundup of Kuwait's regional humanitarian action

Humanitarian Team (Insani) managed to secure financial support to help schools in five areas in Northern Lebanon
Humanitarian Team (Insani) managed to secure financial support to help schools in five areas in Northern Lebanon
KUWAIT, Oct 7 (KUNA) -- Living up to its UN-bestowed status as an International Humanitarian Center, the State of Kuwait continued to provide aid to people in Lebanon and Syria throughout the week.
In Lebanon, the International Center for Quality Education (ICQE), better known as the "Kuwait Charity Schools," on Friday offered education to about 70,000 Syrian refugees, the center's deputy chairman Khalil Al-Hamadi said.
The number of the Syrian children in the schools have been gradually on the rise since the humanitarian project was launched five years ago.
They hit 13,000 last year in 27 schools in Northern Lebanon, Al-Hamadi told KUNA on the sidelines of the start of the academic year in some of the facilities under supervision of the ICQE.
This year, the center aims to provide education to 20,000 pupils, he said, voicing gratitude to the charity and relief organizations and other benefactors in Kuwait and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for their support to the project over the years.
Al-Hamadi also thanked members of the Insani (Humanitarian) Team which comprises volunteers from Kuwait and the GCC.
They have managed to secure financing and support to schools in five areas in Northern Lebanon this year, he said.
For his part, administrative director of the ICQE in Lebanon, Mahmoud Sweyed, said the Kuwaiti charity schools provide education services through specialized educators.
In addition, the center offers psychological and social support to the pupils, after the horrible conditions they witnessed due to the war at home, he added.
In Tripoli, northern Lebanon, several schools being run by Kuwaiti charities began their semester, according to a Kuwaiti diplomat.
Speaking to KUNA on Thursday, the diplomat in charge of humanitarian affairs at Kuwait's embassy in Beirut Mohammad Al-Khaldi said that his country was keen on aiding the needy in Lebanon.
He affirmed that Kuwaiti charities were willing to seek all venues of relief aid including the education of the less fortunate.
The diplomat thanked charitable Kuwaiti entities for their relentless efforts to help those seeking education, stressing that this was reflective of Kuwait's strong desire to aid people in Lebanon and worldwide.
On his part, head of the Kuwaiti team for humanitarian initiatives Anan Al-Subihi emphasized that most of those seeking education at Kuwaiti operated schools were of the Syrian refugee populace.
He indicated that the Kuwaiti team's main focus was to provide educational and mental support to child refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Yemen, and also within some regions in Syria.
Meanwhile, member of the Kuwaiti International Islamic Charitable Organization's (IICO) quality education center Mustafa Alloush said that several schools in the Tripoli area were able to begin the school year due to the efforts of Kuwaiti charitable organizations.
Hundreds of refugees are now able to pursue education thanks to the generous Kuwaiti efforts, he affirmed.
Furthermore, the Kuwaiti Al-Najat Charity held on Thursday tests for Syrian children to assess their intellectual and educational levels prior to registration in private schools.
These quizzes aim to help Syrian children, who failed to get education over the past years, enroll in private schools, said Dr. Abdulmohsen Al-Hwailah, the assistant undersecretary for private education at the Ministry of Education.
Dr. Al-Hwailah was speaking during a tour at the exam venues, schools of Al-Najat Charity, involving 1,250 Syrian boys and girls.
Such help for the Syrian children is in line with guidelines of His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, "the top example for us as individuals and institutions particularly after His Highness has been designated as Humanitarian Leader," said Dr. Al-Hwailah.
This program, launched two years ago, aims at aiding the Syrian students, who have no residency papers, or whose parents are in financial difficulty or who lack any papers proving that they have gotten education in their homeland, Syria.
These pupils receive official certifications with qualification classes, enabling them to register in private schools.
Al-Najat Charity, a Kuwaiti public welfare association, builds schools, gives assistance to students, citizens and foreigners, who cannot afford school fees. (end) hm