Q: Why did you open this center?
A: We decided to open this center in 2011 because we realized that children from the refugee community were especially vulnerable to not receiving an education. First of all, because most of their parents did not receive an education. Secondly, most of the refugee families have the mindset that they will be resettled in the West, mostly Australia or Canada, so they see this stage in Egypt as a transit period. This is not really true. Resettlement is uncertain and it takes an average of 10 to 20 years to be resettled. This makes the refugee children especially vulnerable so we decided to open learning centers, and community-based learning centers to make sure that our children are educated.
Q: Do you have KG, primary and secondary?
A: Yes, Dati, from Nigeria is the woman who started everything in a little classroom with just a few children, and from there we have this very big school with around 540 students. We just do one shift from 8.00 to 14.00.
Q: What about the building? Have you thought about finding a new one?
A: We are renting 4 floors, for that, we pay 40.000 EgP per month. That is a lot of money and this is one of the main challenges that limit our learning center to improve in other areas. The landlord increases this amount every year. And even if it is expensive, searching for another option would be too risky and also too difficult. We have been able to build a good relationship with the neighbors and we have a landlord that is willing to rent us the building, and even more floors, so we know for sure that we can expand our school and get more kids, so this is something that we know for sure.
Q: How many students do you have in a class?
A: Maximum we have 35, the furniture is another challenge. We get this from Egyptian businessmen. Wood is expensive in Egypt, so for one of those chairs we pay 200 EgP. But for the students you know, we don’t want to have more than 35 students in one class, we want to create an environment that allows them to focus, and that also allows the teacher to help every single student, to move around, to be with them.
Q: In senior 3 how many students do you have?
A: Now we have 7 students. They are just a few. What happens a lot is that in senior 1 we used to have a lot of students, like 35 this year, but then in senior 2 they drop out, so now in senior 2 we just have 8 students. The ones in senior 3 will do the exam on the 21st of May.
Q: And what about grade 8?
A: This year in grade 8 we have 50 students divided into classes A and B. Last year we had 47 students in grade 8, and all of them passed the exam except 10.
Q: And senior 3 last year?
A: Last year we did not have senior 3, You know we just introduced it this year because we just want to have in senior 3 our students, the ones that are from KG with us and that we know for sure that they are prepared and that they will pass the exam.
Q: In which year did you introduce secondary education?
A: We introduced secondary education two years ago. You know it is something progressive, we started with KG, and then every year we started introducing more levels for our students, to make sure they can continue growing, until this year. Our students in senior 3 are the ones that started in KG in 2011.
Q: Are all the students in senior 3 from South Sudan?
A: Yes, this year six are from South Sudan and one student is from Sudan
Q: Do you know any case of a student that despite passing the senior 3 exams was not accepted at an Egyptian university because of having Sudanese or South-Sudanese nationality?
A: This has never happened to our school. It is true that last year a student from Faisal school came to me and asked me about this, and I told him that everyone can do the national exam and that everyone can access public universities in Egypt independently of their nationality. But if such a case would happen in my school, what I would do is go to the UNHCR because I have the blue card, or ask the South-Sudanese Embassy to interfere so they can talk with Egyptian authorities and solve that problem, because even if I have the blue card, they need to give me some guarantees as our learning center is registered under the South-Sudanese Embassy. They also need to give a guarantee to the children. I mean they have studied a lot, they have paid the money, they have invested a lot of time, they have big dreams, and suddenly you tell them that this is not possible, you would be causing a big psychological and emotional trauma to the and this is unacceptable. Egyptians need to accept that because over everything we are humans, and this is a human right, and there is no other rule above this one.
Q: How many classrooms do you have?
A: For example for KG we have two classes, then from K1 to K8 we have also two classes A and B, and senior 1,2,3 just each one class.
Q: What can you tell us about the translation from Arabic to English in books and exams?
A: The translation of textbooks is not proper. All of the books are translated from Arabic to English by the Comboni school in Khartoum. This is one of the most famous schools under the church in Sudan, and when it comes to the translation of textbooks, it is the best one. Then there are business centers that also translate like Bahkita but those are really bad because they use Google Translate. I buy hard copies of each book and copy them here.
Q: Do you have donors?
A: Well last year UNICEF came to visit our learning center, and I guess that they also visited many other more, but it was not useful. They just took a look at our school and told us, ‘let’s see what we can do’, and they never did anything. But it is curious because they came from Jordan to Cairo, to have a meeting with CRS, they came from their headquarters in Aman.
Q: Do you have problems with your neighbors?
A: We manage. We have problems but we know how to live with our neighboUrs because it is the only way. Most of the people here in our area have the mind of discrimination and we know that. We just need to learn how to deal with them, where to go, and how to act.
Q: Because if neighbors complain, can Egyptian police close your school?
A: Of course, this happened to us before. This is the reason why we started our learning center here. Before we were located in Shari’a El-Nadi, in the building next to the South-Sudanese embassy, the neighbors complained. Egyptian authorities came and arrested me and closed the school for two days. Then they allowed us to reopen the school again until we found another place. We found this building and even here we have problems. Last year I arrived in the morning and the learning center was burning. There was a big fire.
Q: Did they close the school during classes?
A: No, thank God, children were not there. It was an off day, and they arrested me and they had me 4 days in custody. During that time they were doing an investigation and they did not find anything, so they freed me. Once out of jail we coordinated with the teachers union, the landlord, the South Sudanese Embassy, and others, so we finally were able to find another building. Now we are three years in this new building.
Q: What about COVID-19?
A: COVID-19 was a very big challenge. We could not provide lessons in any class, but were still paying rent.
Q: How many teachers do you have?
A: We have 35 teachers.
Q: Do you do shifts?
A: No, just one
Q: Do you feed the children?
A: No, if we would have had the support we would, but you know we struggle just with paying the rent. I would love to feed the kids because sometimes the children come to you and tell you ‘teacher I am hungry’ and you just buy them something from your own pocket. And let me be honest with you, the refugee families in Egypt face a lot of challenges in terms of life, rent, racism, finding a job, and money, and when those families bring their children to school they do it because they really want their children to have a better life.
Q: How much do you pay your teachers?
A: It depends on experience. We pay them between 2.000 EgP to 4000 EgP. The teachers know that this salary is low but most of them do it as a sort of volunteer.
Q: How do you find teachers?
A: Most of our teachers are from the refugee community, most of them are here for like 7 years, but also many have moved on to other learning centers, but we always have someone to substitute them. We often advertise through Facebook and social media. We find teachers through word of mouth in the community.
Q: Are all your teachers graduates from university?
A: No, it is not a requirement, but for seniors 1, 2, and 3 we are looking hard to get qualified teachers because we are preparing them for secondary school exams.
Q: Do you follow the Sudanese curriculum?
A: Yes, we use this curriculum from grade 6 to senior 3. We earlier used a mix between international, British, and American. We even have used the Nigerian curriculum.
Q: And what about the South Sudanese curriculum?
A: We are planning to shift the curriculum next year and start using the South Sudanese curriculum. It is important to do that because this year our students are paying 550$ for doing the Sudanese exam. That is way too expensive and most of them cannot afford this. This is the reason for us to change to the South Sudanese curriculum so our children can take the exams at the South Sudanese Embassy and graduate at a much lower cost. For example, now we have 7 students at senior 3 preparing for the exam but just 4 will do it because 3 of them cannot afford that money.
Q: What are the differences between the South Sudanese curriculum and the Sudanese one?
A: The South Sudanese curriculum is much better than the Sudanese because their books are written by Ugandans and Kenyans. Their books tend to be written very well because they are funded by UNICEF. The English used in these books is really good. These books also offer training for the teachers.
Q: How do you feel about the Sudanese curriculum, which do you feel is the worst part?
A: The translation of the textbooks, Their books have been translated from Arabic to English and the majority of our students are English speakers so when they read the book they do not understand.
Q: How much do you charge the children for school fees?
A: This depends on the levels. For example for senior 3 we make them pay 3.400 EgP/year
Q: Do you have any partnerships with any NGO?
A: No, this year we just have one of the Egyptian NGOs coming to our center. They help us just with KG. They train teachers, and also they give toys and furniture to the KG.
Q: Are you planning to stay in this building for a long time?
A: To be honest, I am not planning to change the building. In this country getting a place is very difficult.
Q: Do you offer the students transportation back home?
A: Yes, we hire people that have individual buses, and we have an agreement with the parents to pay us something for that. We did that because many children are living far far away from here, many live in Ard Al-Lews very far away. We offer that to every level.
Q: Do the children pay separately for books and uniforms?
A: No, it is included in the school fee
Q: And how do you get the books?
A: We buy a soft copy from the Combonis and then we copy them here. There is no way to buy the books directly from the publisher. We would be spending a lot on those books.
Q: Do you advertise?
A: This year I do it through the church and community, but this year we have a waiting list. Last year we had the problem of the fire so less space was available, but we always give priority to our students the ones that are here at our school from KG. Then if in some classes we have some seats available, we might accept a new student from outside. We always ask for a placement test and prove that they completed the said grade in another school.
Q: Do you offer training to the teachers?
A: Catholic Relief Services is doing that.
