BBC News Arabic has launched Dars (Arabic for Lesson), a new educational programme for children who cannot continue their education due to conflicts and wars.
According to Fiona Crack, Deputy Global Director of BBC News, "a 2025 report by the UNICIF estimated that at least 30 million children were out of school in the Middle East and North Africa, many of whom are displaced due to conflict."
Crack explained that Dars is an award-winning BBC World Service programme that supports education for children aged 11 to 16. It is designed for children whose access to education has been restricted by conflict and war across Central Asia. Since 2023, BBC News Afghanistan, broadcast in Pashto and Dari, has provided free education to millions of children in Afghanistan.
Crack continued, "Dars is extending its reach to BBC News Arabic, providing a free education programme for children who have been cut off from education across the Middle East."
She noted that in its first season, Dars will run for 12 episodes across 12 weeks, broadcasting on Sundays weekly on BBC News Arabic. "The programme is recorded in Cairo with local presenters, and English language lessons are presented from London by senior journalists from BBC News Arabic," Crack said.
The programme sends messages of hope to the children, encouraging them to speak about their aspirations and future. For the first five weeks, it will address children's mental health, teaching them to understand and express their feelings. The messages are carefully curated by mental health specialists in the Arab region, where almost 700,000 children have lost access to education in Gaza and 17 million in Sudan.
Sudan's education minister, Ahmed Khalifa, said 70 percent of Sudan's schools had been destroyed. He described the educational crisis there as a "fearful reality."
Crack told Ahram Online that the BBC fully funds the production of all Dars Arabic programmes. She explained that the programme capitalizes on the expertise of BBC World Service and BBC Education teams to provide efficient, high-quality programming rooted in the BBC's public service values. Crack further indicated that audiences can watch Dars Arabic weekly on BBC News Arabic every Sunday at 07:30 CLT. The programme will be rerun at 12:05 CLT and throughout the week.
Speaking to Ahram Online, Nancy El-Nakib, News Editor of Dars Arabi, said five experts from Egypt, Sudan, Palestine, and Yemen will present the programme. "We used the available material for broadcasting news at the BBC to offer the children an opportunity to stay in touch with education, applying the BBC's slogan' To educate, To inform, To entertain,'" El-Nakib added. She stressed that the children would receive learning materials and topics compatible with Arab culture.
Furthermore, El-Nakib explained that Dars is presented in Modern Standard Arabic to ensure that all the audiences understand it with no language barriers that could prevent them from achieving the programme's educational goals. She also noted that the programme will not contain any violent, distressing, or inappropriate material.
In addition, El-Nakib indicated that clips from the programme will be available to watch on BBC News Arabic digital platforms and YouTube. The programme will also be broadcast on BBC News Arabic's lifeline radio services in Gaza and Syria, available on medium wave and FM.
"The programme is not premiering in any single country first. It rolls out across BBC News Arabic, which airs in all three countries and across North Africa and the Middle East simultaneously," Crack told Ahram Online.
Similarly, “immediately after the ceasefire on January 1st, UNRWA launched the Gaza Emergency Education Response Programme, a temporary programme that aims to reduce learning loss through the implementation of an intensive curriculum, which reduces an entire school year to three months. It uses multiple digital platforms to ensure students’ access to education, including (7,864) virtual classrooms via WhatsApp, supervised by 6,850 teachers,” said Sahar Al-Jobury, Chief UNRWA Representative Office in Cairo.
According to Al-Jobury, 95% of schools, including 161 UNRWA schools, have been destroyed or severely damaged and will need to be rebuilt. “There is also a gap that will be difficult to fill in the killing of education workers. “273 of UNRWA staff were killed, 166 were members of the education team. All this has led to a near-total paralysis of the education of 660,000 children in the Strip, half of whom were studying in our schools”, she said.
"Olives Grandchildren" is another initiative launched in Cairo by Esraa Aly. Speaking to Ahram Online, Aly said the initiative relies on volunteers who teach classes to children from Gaza four days a week from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at an educational centre and serve them meals.
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