Remedial Classes and Psycho Social Support Sessions for 9th-Grade Students
The Service and Relief Department- Diakonia, at the Middle East Council of Churches, Syria Office, implemented remedial classes for 9th-grade students in five institutes and schools in Rural Damascus. 600 students benefited from the program that aims at supporting students to continue their academic attainment.
The classes provided the needed information for the main subjects in order to promote the academic level of students and enable them to pass the final 9th-grade official exams successfully.
The 3-months training included psychosocial support sessions for 400 students entitled “Life skills - a journey with myself”.
One of the participants said, “the remedial classes played a major role in helping me to understand the curriculum as I became able to continue my studies alone. I used to face difficulties in studying math, science, English, and French. However, now my academic level has improved a lot”.
She added “the life skills session had a positive impact on my life, which I called: the butterfly effect so like the caterpillar turns into a butterfly, many aspects have changed in my personality for the better. I am now able to express my inner feelings and thoughts, which made me a happier person because keeping things to myself was very psychologically exhausting. I used to wait for Fridays to attend the psychosocial support sessions to enjoy it and benefit from it. Thank you for changing my life for the better”.
MECC implemented also positive parenting sessions for mothers of targeted students in order to help them improve their communication with their children and families.
160 mothers joined the positive parenting 4-day-training that introduced them to parenting styles, the importance of positive parenting, the correct methods in dealing with exhaustion and self-care, the characteristics of different children’s age groups, effective communication, and problem-solving methods.
One of the mothers said, “My son benefited from 9th-grade remedial classes. He faced difficulties in studying Arabic and English languages and needed assistance but we were not able to help him because of our difficult financial situation so we cannot afford to pay the fees of expensive private lessons at home or private institutes. The improvement in my son’s academic level is evident. After joining the remedial classes, he started studying more because he now understands the curriculum”.
As for the positive parenting sessions, one of the participant mothers said, “We always act violently with our children without even realizing that this is due to the life pressures and the stress we are experiencing because of war. The young generation has many things to ask for, which increases the pressure that parents are already experiencing. This used to make me nervous and made me act harshly with my children. These sessions taught me how to manage my anger so I stopped scolding them all the time and started dealing with them quietly allocating more time to listen to their problems to understand their point of view regarding any problem so I can help and guide them to think and find a suitable solution”.
Ms. Rima Lahham, the MECC Education Program coordinator said, “The majority of parents are unable to pay the fees of such classes in private institutes or even pay for private lessons at home taking into consideration that their financial situation has become very difficult because of the protracted war and its consequences. Therefore, MECC was keen to organize free of charge remedial classes to help students successfully pass the final official 9th-grade exam and, hence, encourage them to continue their education”.
She added, “We targeted 600 students in 5 institutes and schools in Rural Damascus. The remedial classes included all the subjects in the curriculum, except for religion. The classes were very successful and beneficial for the students and their academic situation improved remarkably. This was evident from the results of the pre and post-tests implemented for the students at the beginning and end of the classes”.
Ms. Lamis Naifeh, The MECC psychosocial support coordinator, said, “Due to our experience in implementing similar educational programs in the past, we realized the importance and necessity of supporting the psychological aspect in students’ life and not limiting our activities to the educational aspects only. Therefore, we organized psychosocial support sessions, entitled “Life skills- A journey with myself” to enable students overcome the stress they are going through during the preparations for the 9th-grade certificate, which is a crucial stage for their academic future”.
She added,” The topics of the sessions are developed in cooperation with students in accordance with their most prominent needs. The addressed topics included self-awareness, recognizing feelings, stress management strategies, setting goals, identifying priorities, developing a study schedule, correct communication with parents and teachers and self-protection during their age group”.
She concluded, “The mothers constitute the other side of the scale; targeting students without their mothers in any psychosocial support activity will not allow the scale to achieve balance. Therefore, we decided to target mothers through sessions addressing topics similar to the topics presented to the students in order to help them achieve a positive parenting environment at home, and thus helping parents and their children to overcome this difficult stage successfully, which is the major goal of this program”.
At the end of the remedial classes, 399 students received food baskets and winter clothes.
