NNA - The Lebanese Alternative Learning (LAL) is an edtech organization. LAL has developed a digital learning platform, ‘Tabshoura’ aligned with the learning objectives of the Lebanese official curriculum and offers a holistic learning experience as well as a teacher support initiative and website ‘Lalmoudaress’.
Through its partnership with the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), LAL has not only scaled Tabshoura but specifically addressed the limited access of students to the internet, due to frequent power cuts and the worsening economic crisis, by developing an offline App, the ‘Tabshoura App’ that allows learners to download lesson units and use them on any device, be it a phone, a tablet or a computer.
With public schools currently being closed, increasing the number of children with no access to education, we hope that ‘Tabshoura’ would make education more accessible to all children.
The programs will be downloaded on tablets, which are provided with the financial support of Germany, and will be distributed to a number of public schools all over Lebanon. They are also currently accessible via the national platform Mawaridy, based on an agreement between LAL and the Center of Research and Development (CRDP).
LAL launched its programs through an event, that took place on Tuesday, January 24th at the Abou Khater amphitheater of the Saint Joseph University. It is called Al 3elm LAL Kell (Education for All), “Our journey through digital education”.
The event was under the patronage and in the presence of the Minister of Education and Higher Education (MEHE), Mr. Abbas Halabi, and in the presence of the German ambassador to Lebanon, Mr. Andreas Kindl. Were also present, Mr. Imad Achkar, the Director General of Education, Professor Hiam Ishaak, president of CRDP, Mr. Thomas Mueller, GIZ Lebanon Country Director, Ms. Lama Zeinoun Tabet, Director of the GIZ SUFA Project in Lebanon project team, and LAL partners and several representatives of education institutions, international agencies, public and private schools, and education centers.
Mrs. Nayla Zreik Fahed, CEO of LAL, started by a welcome note and a presentation of the association and its partnership with GIZ, and announced the launch of Tabshoura’s offline App and its integration on 60,000 tablets provided to public schools with the financial support of Germany. She also shed the light on the collaboration with CRDP and the integration of Tabshoura with Mawaridy platform “LAL’s mission is to provide free education to all. Digitization must play a role in education equality, providing an inclusive, free, and high-quality education. LAL played its role by providing a solution to the educational crisis that the country is experiencing; today 50,000 students are using Tabshoura platform, we aim to reach 200,000 students.” She also introduced the new Lalmoudaress initiative: “more than 500 professors helped us building a teachers’ support platform.
In his speech, Mr. Thomas Mueller, explained that “Tabshoura App is a wonderful opportunity for students to study remotely and to educate themselves offline. It’s a great achievement that we all together found a solution for students, teachers and administrators to make processes more efficient. Soon the students will receive tablets through which they can access Tabshoura.”
Mr. Andreas Kindl declared that “education is the key that enables hundreds of thousands of boys and girls in Lebanon to break through the cycle of poverty.”
Finally, the minister Mr. Halabi thanked the German Embassy and GIZ for their support and cooperation to help the MEHE, especially in the procurement of 60,000 tablets to be distributed in a number of public schools, and LAL for their role in education in Lebanon. “It’s pity that during this day of International education, our schools and administration are closed because of the strike that I understand, we have reached a new agreement and solution with the Prime minister to help the teachers in these difficult times, we cannot stop education, and this is why I ask all teachers to come back to schools in order not to lose more time.”
After the event, the guests were invited to visit LAL booths and discover all the various programs developed by the association. They had the opportunity to test Tabshoura platform with its different components Early Childhood Education, Elementary Cycle and Middle School, in its online and offline versions, which are available in French, Arabic, and English and to learn more about the non-formal education programs, and to get acquainted with other co-curricular projects, Lalmoudaress, a platform dedicated to all Lebanese teachers and other LAL Digital Solutions that can benefit any institution or association that works in the educational domain.
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