Building out-of-school Syrian refugee children’s foundational literacy and psychosocial wellbeing through gaming apps
The Grand Challenge
A generation deprived of education opportunities and at risk of psychosocial trauma
Years of conflict in Syria has uprooted millions of people, hampering children’s access to education. More than 3.5 million refugee children were unable to attend a single day of school in 2016, and those who did attend often faced learning difficulties due to long-term stress as well as the use of educational materials in languages they don’t use or understand. A lack of basic literacy and numeracy skills among young people significantly decreases their educational progress and economic opportunities.
The Big Idea
Arabic literacy apps that address education lapses and psychosocial stress
The EduApp4Syria competition sought the development of smartphone apps that could build foundational literacy skills in Arabic and improve psychosocial well-being for Syrian refugee children who are out of or struggling in school. The prize—funded by the Norwegian government and coordinated by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) in cooperation with the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development, mobile operator Orange, and the Inter-Agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE)—funded two gaming apps now available for free download on Google Play and the App Store.
Prize Partners
The ACR GCD Founding Partners thank the following organizations for their collaboration on this competition.
Antura and the Letters app builds foundational literacy skills in Arabic and improves psychosocial well-being for Syrian children who are out of school or struggling in school.
An ecosystem for collaborative, inquiry-based, leveled reading that merges task-based and storytelling approaches to increase reading comprehension in early-stage readers.
Learning becomes an adventure with Antura, the fun-loving dog. Catch English letters hidden around the world, while solving puzzles and earning gifts. Available on Android, iOS and Windows.
The Grand Challenge is concluding 12 years of funding and testing innovative EdTech solutions and approaches to increase reading outcomes for marginalized children in low-resource contexts
The app, funded through the EduApp4Syria Prize, was nominated for and received awards celebrating innovation and achievements in the development process