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MyBestStart gets refugee children ready for school

Theirworld supports a programme for children in Lebanon who are unable to access preschool - through a combination of online lessons at home and in-person teaching.

Amina Hamoud has one wish for her six-year-old daughter Linda.

“I hope she’ll have a better life than us,” said the mother, a refugee from Syria who fled from the conflict to Lebanon in 2015. “I hope she lives in a stable country where there is no war and achieves her goals in her studies.”

Amina has enrolled Linda in MyBestStart, a Theirworld-supported programme in Lebanon that reaches young refugee children and under-served Lebanese children aged three to six who are unable to access preschool.

The hybrid learning model – two days a week at community-based centres and two days at home – prepares the kindergarten students to be ready for first grade at public school. Lessons, which are aligned with the Lebanese school curriculum, include Arabic, English, mathematics and science.

Watch our new MyBestStart film

**MyBestStart 2 is the second phase of a programme that combines interactive video lessons, online and offline instruction on the Tabshoura learning platform, and physical learning materials. It is delivered by Theirworld partner organisations Ana Aqra Association, Lebanese Alternative Learning and SKILD.

Early childhood education is crucial for the development of all children – but especially for child refugees, as many of them have suffered significant trauma. In Lebanon the effects of an economic crisis and Covid-19 left 400,000 children without access to school or pre-primary education.

Theirworld’s Act For Early Years campaign is calling for all children to have access to quality early childhood development, including childcare and pre-primary education.