Development of a tailored educational strategy in primary schools to cope with volatility of education in internally displaced camps: a case study from Northwest Syria

As the Syrian situation has worsened since 2011, many aspects of the society have been affected, most notably the education of children. The internally displaced persons (IDPs) camps in Northwest Syria, especially in rural areas, are left with limited access to education for children, resulting in all the consequences that follow. Abjad initiative for education established Iqraa project to deliver education in those areas and adapted a modified educational strategy that differs from known conventional schooling in the region. The modified strategy is based on attendance, in class behaviour and performance in weekly formative assessments and linked it to final exam scores. Among fourth grade students (N = 35), the study showed strong positive statistically significant correlation between these parameters and final exam (0.780***, 0.893*** and 0.961*** respectively). Low performance on any of these parameters allowed to flag and refer students that need support to special assistant and safeguarding teachers. The study explored the relationship of these parameters to social factors through a survey done with families and revealed an important role of parents’ education, number of people sharing the tent and distance from classroom tent on children’s attendance and attainment. Regarding challenges that have been reported by parents, it has only been found that the distance from the classroom tent is statistically significant with the children’s attendance (p = 0.042*). Negatively significant correlations were found between the children’s behaviour within the classroom and final exam scores with the number of people sharing their tent (r = - 0.459, r = - 0.524) respectively. The proposed strategy can be replicated in many emergency areas. Furthermore, findings of this study can be further explored by policy makers, funders, and social experts to better understand the impact of long-term IDP settlement in camps on children’s education and development.