Harris said “The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows”. Imagine a community where we grow as individuals and as a society as whole. Education is the main cornerstone for that. It is the most powerful weapon. We cannot evolve without it. It helps us look into new ways to develop our country and the only way to do so is through enlightening ourselves.
An example of this is “The super mommy, Sarah Shkeri (31 years)”. She has challenged herself by participating in the “Together for Better Higher Education” program funded by the European Union. At the beginning of the program and as French-educated, Sarah had zero knowledge in English. She couldn’t even pronounce the alphabets properly or build up complete sentences. Being married and a mother of children, Sarah had to put in the extra miles to achieve her goal in learning English. Due to the current crisis in Lebanon, Sara had applied for immigration to Canada and for that, she needs to pass the TOFEL test. After a lot of practice and motivation aside to her persistence in attending the classes, this lady is now getting better and better in English. She’s even teaching her own children what she learns regularly at home. “I’m grateful for this program, I’ve learned a lot through these classes and I think I’m ready to do the TOFEL soon!”. The English coach stated, “Sarah is such an amazing student. At first, she wasn’t able to read properly and didn’t know much in English. But now, she is able to list all tenses and form complete sentences in each tense form”.
“Together for Better Higher Education” is a project implemented by the Lebanese Organization for Studies and Training (LOST) within the scope of the “Funding for Training and Capacity Building” component of the HOPES-LEB project funded by the European Union, through the EU Regional Trust Fund in response to the Syrian crisis, the ‘EU Madad Fund’, and implemented by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Campus France and Nuffic. “Together for Better Higher Education” aims to facilitate access to higher education for vulnerable Lebanese and Syrian youths through linguistics and digital capacity building and ensures the retention of the Lebanese and Syrian youths in higher education through psychosocial, career development, and skills trainings. The Project’s duration is 12 months starting from April 1st 2021 to Mach 31st 2022. The generous donations of the European Union have made many youths’ lives much bearable and improved their education, wellbeing and livelihood, especially during the deteriorating socio-economic crisis Lebanon is going through.“
