A total of 23 Finnish children volunteered for the program, which provided learning materials such as pictures and videos through their mother’s phone’s Whatsapp app. The Finnish daily Helsingin-Sanomat broke first shaking on Sunday.
The distance learning program was kept hidden from Kurdish authorities, who run a refugee camp with more than 60,000 male family members with links to the terrorist organization ISIS because cell phones are officially banned on the premises.
According to Helsingin-Sanomat, the ministry also did not ask permission from the camp administration for fear that it would endanger the lives of students and their families.
The content of the program has been designed by the Kvs Foundation The Wanderer’s Distance Education School and included material for Finnish, mathematics, environmental studies, history, and English.
In addition to distance education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs organized virtual doctor visits for children, during which mothers received medical advice via instant messaging. However, the lack of computers and poor network connections at the camp often made correspondence difficult.
According to MTV, distance learning began in May 2020, but stagnant this spring, when communication with mothers was suddenly and inexplicably interrupted. The camp has recently seen a splatter violence and death.
The Ministry for Foreign Affairs announced in July that two-thirds of al-Hol’s Finns had already been returned home. However, dozens of Finnish children were still being held in the camp at that time.
Tahira Sequeira
Helsinki Times
Source: The Nordic Page