Molham School in Arsal Did Not Say No to this Child!

"Your child cannot be admitted into our school!”

This is the response that Fatima’s mother heard several times. However, she wakes up every morning, holds the hand of her little daughter, leaves her tent in Arsal, and knocks the doors of different schools, but always faces the same response! This happens because her child has Down's syndrome, accompanied by speech problems and other cognitive and behavioral problems. In other words, if you want to teach any normal child a letter, Fatima would need double that effort. Educating such child takes a lot of efforts and patience, until she learns things like how to hold a pencil. Every step requires a teacher patient enough to enable her to follow what is being said. Other than teaching her how to hold the pencil, there is the difficult task of teaching the child the alphabet and how to write it. While public schools reject Fatima, the mother cannot afford registering her in a private school specialized to deal with such cases.

Finally, Fatima was admitted to Molham School in Arsal in year one. She started to attend every day and she finally became able to write all letters and numbers. This could not have been possible without the strong cooperation between the family and the school, and a lot of patience on both ends. Fortunately, Fatima did not lose her chance to learn!

Living in a tent, Down's syndrome, and congenital problems are not a hindrance, once there is a good opportunity that one could take advantage of. Molham School is the only opportunity for educating hundreds of students in Arsal refugee camps. It is a gateway that prepares the children and their families for a better future away from camps.