if today you had to leave your home
right now and all you could take with
you was one bag what would you put
inside it think about it some questions
that may come into your head is this
permanent how long will I be away for
will I return home soon what about shall
I pack necessities or should I pack
things of sentimental value like
photographs like the stuffed teddy my
dad gave me or something that means a
lot to you and I ask you this question
for – is it a it’s to put ask you to put
yourself into someone else’s shoes and B
it’s to get you thinking how long is
this going to be is it permanent is it
temporary anta and and your decisions
you make really depend on that so I call
this the temporary tent I took this
photo three years ago in 2013 when I was
in Lebanon I was visiting some Syrian
refugees living there and as you can see
it’s not very well made or built not
sturdy won’t you know if it won’t
protect people from the different kinds
of weather in summer you’ll be hot in
winter you’ll be cold and you can see a
family living inside this in the shelter
so when when these families moved here
to Lebanon they obviously left Syria in
a very rush state they took just what
they could take with them a few things
came here set up home in this random in
the middle of nowhere place it was fresh
out of the conflict emotions were high
were raw what am I doing here
how did this happen my home has been
bombed I’ve lost family members how do I
survive on top of that you’ve got your
kids with you on top of that you’re you
need to survive food
water shelter these are important for
your everyday survival education not
really nothing else matters you just
need to live day for day this photo I
took two weeks ago I was in Lebanon and
I visited a similar area that I had in
the previous three years ago what can
you see from this photograph it’s this
family is building this home it’s more
structured they’ve got a cement floor
they’ve got a slightly stronger wood
structure tarp covering the house not
the ideal home for URI but still better
than the previous one and this is the
moment I think when I was standing here
and I took this photo this is a moment I
think that they would have realized that
I don’t think I’m going home anytime
soon perhaps I may never even see my
house again
and this is when the human mind starts
thinking about the long-term well now
that I yeah now that this is home what
do I do they start thinking beyond
day-to-day living they start thinking
about education for their children they
can’t just be sitting here playing
Woodstock with stones and sticks they
start thinking about job security how do
I earn an income to provide for my
family
food water what happens if someone gets
sick and essentially its stability how
do how do I find stability in such an
unsafe such an unstable environment how
do I feel a bit of normalcy in my life
so this is a tent at school what a lot
of the antennas ations do is they set up
these schools within the tented
settlements for the children now this is
to give the children a sense of normalcy
a sense of routine but it’s important to
remember these toddlers for many of them
they’ve been out of school now for over
one two three years that’s too much and
the average number of years a person
Maine’s a refugee is 17 years so if you
look at this kid here
he’s probably four years old if you look
at seventeen years later that’s not a
part of his life that’s a very
significant majority of his life that he
may not go to school won’t go to
university won’t graduate
this is crucial information for us and
it’s important to realize that less than
1% of refugees get resettled globally
now this is very alarming what this when
we look at this figure sixty million
refugees the world has not experienced a
crisis at refugee crisis this extreme
since World War two today we have over
60 million refugees and internally
displaced people living here they can’t
stay home because it’s not safe and
they’re not welcome anywhere else but
let’s bring things a little closer to
home Malaysia in Malaysia we have over a
hundred and fifty thousand refugees
according to UNHCR the official
statistic however we believe the number
is probably over 200,000 we asked why do
they come here they come here for peace
for peace so that they can escape war
they can escape death and persecution
and they stay in Malaysia for anything
between two – two – two years decades
many decades in fact and the question we
must ask ourselves as if these refugees
are gonna stay here how do we address
the situation what do we do as
Malaysians and I think the refugee
situation has made us realize how
borderless the world we live in security
and from a security perspective
terrorism from disease perspective the
diseases are popping up all over the
place people are moving everywhere
cultural differences and even education
I’ve seen the transformation of
educational institutions changing their
approaches so they can allow refugees
access to education
and so today I’d like to quickly talk
about this talk about the
transformations taking place in
education globally and right here in
Malaysia and this has enabled refugees
regardless of their location regardless
of their status this is enable them to
continue some normalcy in their lives
and allow them some continuity in their
education and this has affected millions
and millions of refugees globally so
we’re talking so right here we’re
talking about education now these it’s
understanding the importance of this
education and it’s understanding that
these are children that believe that
education is their hope without hope
what life is their future to live and
they believe that this is the platform
that they can use to build a better
future for themselves so it is important
for children because they need to thrive
not just survive so they can reach their
highest potential it is also important
for them because you know they need to
go to school they need to they need to
have a good life and they are the future
for their for their for their people if
they don’t go to school we’re looking at
a lost generation we’re looking at over
2 million Syrian children that will not
be able to return to their country that
will not be able to will not be able to
contribute to rebuilding their nation
and this is a horrible horrible
statistic it’s a very it’s a very scary
scary statistic so now we reach the
point of rethinking access to education
this is what we’re doing after this is
what we’re doing at the refugee school
that I run in Malaysia rethinking access
to education how do we give this tool to
refugees so that they can empower
themselves and make differences in their
lives what we know now is we cannot keep
providing a temporary education we need
to have permanent education for all
when Fujii school first started we were
ad-hoc we did not know what we were
doing random syllabus random exams we
were using a band-aid strategy we have a
cut we place a band-aid on it
but we weren’t dealing with the crux of
the problem we know we knew we couldn’t
continue these efforts we couldn’t
continue making mistakes like this and
we realized that we had to partner
together with the right education
institutions who were willing who who
had the desire to say look we want to
ensure that these children and these
refugee youth have access to education
have access to learning and we’re going
to we’re going to shake things up we’re
gonna shake it up and we’re gonna do
what we have to do so that these refugee
kids can go to school who we’ve embarked
on a new education path not restricted
and not limited by traditional
constraints and by policy so the first
point certified learning what does that
look like all of you guys sit here you
want to get certificate certification
right you finish your degree you get a
nice certificate you go on into the
world and you get a good job so we this
is what we want
what about refugees what do they want it
is important for them as well to have
certification very often they study here
for many years in Malaysia and when they
get resettled they leave with nothing to
show for it how are they going to get a
job in another country and so what we’re
doing is we’re working with partners to
be able to overcome this hurdle live a
quick story of that from Fuji School
where two of our students now are and
Ahmed great students high-performing
high potential and they got accepted to
into their foundation course and
Nottingham University so that’s an
amazing accomplishment for anyone
exactly but let me ask how was this able
to happen how were they able to get to
get such a privileged opportunity it
started yes they’re great students but
it started with Nottingham University
and an institution that said we want
these students to have a chance just
because they’re refugees doesn’t mean
that they get to lose out on an
education so what do they have to do
they did not say here they did not sit
then go show me your high school diploma
they said look we understand you guys
are refugees you’ve missed out on huge
gaps in learning some of this refugees
missed out four years of school they
said we don’t want cert we want to
interview you we want to listen to you
speak we want to see everything you’ve
done and we will deter
if we think you’re a good fit for us
that’s what they did they broke down
their criteria they changed their
admissions criteria they were flexible
they were adaptable they appreciated the
situation and because of that two
students now have a fair chance at life
now they have certificates that will now
allow them to build themselves a better
future
what about borderless learning
borderless learning at the Fuji school
we’re talking about globalization the
breakdown of borders and because of
because of this we started initiative
together with Singapore Turkey and
Europe and we’re working together to
have it’s called our Open University for
Refugees and this is an independent unit
that we’ve started designed to meet the
educational needs of people repeat again
these protracted conflicts all around
the world so what we do is we utilize
technology we utilize utilize the
internet and we utilize bringing
basically we bring education closer to
the people and fostering an open culture
fostering inclusion we’re saying let’s
come together to solve this problem and
we’re using expertise from the
universities skill knowledge resources
things that we need to bring people
together but importantly we’re restoring
dignity to individuals and for about
what about educated refugees people who
come to Malaysia
they’ve got degrees they they can work
they can they can contribute economy
maybe we need to start thinking about
policy maybe you need to say hey can we
kind of rethink policy to make it work
for Refugees now that this is it if our
goal is that all children get educated
that all children go to school and that
nobody should be left behind then we can
achieve it
because we know we have the technology
we have the internet we have the
resources we have the expertise we have
the knowledge all we need is the
willingness the all we need is the
willingness to say yes this is what we
want to do and to make it happen
these are some quotes that I did not
steal from a book or a video
the
some quotes that I actually took from
people that I interviewed on my various
on my various trips to Lebanon it’s
important to understand guys that nobody
chooses to be a refugee nobody wants to
be a refugee no one wants to leave their
home nobody wants to leave everything
they have like that and run away and
live in a foreign land that they’re not
welcomed all people want is peace and
security and with that they will thrive
anywhere so the world has to come
together to understand this and to
understand what we can do to change that
and to finish up with this photograph I
took of this little boy Nasir his mom
was killed and now he’s left here in a
school in in Lebanon having to survive
amidst all the trauma we have the
statistics two million Syrian refugees
live children affected 16 million
refugees globally but numbers are great
but they’re just numbers this is the
face this is a child this is a kid
affected directly by decisions of others
and so coming together to give him an
education that then will open his doors
allow him to build a future and a
platform for him so he can build the
future rebuild the future of his nation
thank you [Applause]