Covid Response
Fobzu-UNRWA eLearning Project
The Problem
In March 2020, all schools, universities and education facilities were temporarily closed in the West Bank and Gaza to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Teaching at higher education institutions rapidly moved to remote learning.
Despite the easing of some restrictions, most university courses remain online.
Since 2018 Fobzu has been working with UNRWA to provide scholarships to Palestine refugee students in financial need at Birzeit University and in Gaza.
The economic hardship these students face meant that 19 joint Fobzu-UNRWA students lacked the necessary equipment to study off-campus. Unable to afford laptops, tablets or internet at home, students relied on mobile phones with limited functionality or shared equipment with family or friends.
Our Response
Fobzu acted to ensure students could access learning during the height of the pandemic. We partnered with UNRWA to provide laptops, tablets and internet connections to Fobzu-supported scholarship students, enabling them to continue their education when courses switched to online.
Today, our scholarship students have the essential equipment they need to achieve their potential in their studies at university and to ensure they are not left behind in these challenging times.
Since eLearning began, studying became harder since everything I could learn depended on my phone’s screen and its poor internet connection. Until I received a laptop from Fobzu – that I couldn’t get without them – and suddenly that screen became much more comfortable to focus on all day long. They are also covering our internet fees…This scholarship lets us focus less on financial stuff, and more on studying and creativity.
(Doing my course work) this semester was much easier than the previous one, and this was reflected in my marks which became much better…I believe I will be on the honour list this year. Thank you very much Fobzu.
At the beginning, my experience with electronic education was poor because I lacked a computer, so I was borrowing one from my relatives on which to do all my work.
As a student studying a multimedia major, not owning a computer was such big crisis for me. 80 percent of my studies depended on using computers, and with eLearning my need for a computer has increased. But now thanks to God and thanks to Fobzu, I now have my own computer and sufficient internet access.
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