SAT-7 to launch educational channel for refugees
A new satellite television channel, SAT-7 ACADEMY is set to launch on 1 September. Broadcasting around the clock in Arabic, the channel will offer millions of displaced or refugee children complementary learning opportunities through a variety of television programmes.
War has forced thirteen million children out of school across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).[1] Schools that have not been destroyed are overcrowded, and the fear of violence has caused parents to keep their children at home and teachers to abandon their posts. Families flee conflict to save their lives, leaving behind their homes and jobs, and putting at risk their children’s futures. These children are in danger of becoming a “lost” generation.
SHAPING CHILDREN AND INFLUENCERS OF THE NEXT GENERATION
By launching SAT-7 ACADEMY, SAT-7 is striving to help bridge the gap in education, equipping not only children but parents and teachers who will shape the next generation.
SAT-7 ACADEMY will provide a distinctive range of holistic programmes to address this education crisis. For children – who are either out of school or need supplementary schooling – it will supply academic, emotional, and psychological support – For parents, its content is designed to help them better raise their children- For teachers, it will aim to model and equip them with creative teaching methods. “I feel honoured to be taking on the helm of SAT-7 ACADEMY as it represents the core humanitarian values I believe in most: education and social development,” says Juliana Sfeir, SAT-7 ACADEMY’s newly appointed Channel Manager.
A channel that promotes skills, understanding, tolerance and critical thinking has immense potential for good, Sfeir believes. “The need is enormous, the dream is colossal, and the time is ripe. I believe, we will soon witness societies without violence and classrooms with creative teaching,” she says.
E-LEARNING CENTRE
To ensure SAT-7 ACADEMY’s programming can be used to maximum effect, SAT-7 is also launching an online e-learning centre. Viewers will be able to log on via laptops and mobile devices to customised profiles with courses that enable them to learn at their own pace.
SAT-7 ACADEMY’s lineup will include new series made specifically for the channel, newly acquired education and social development programmes, and popular educational shows, like the on-air primary school teaching series, My School, that is currently broadcast on SAT-7 KIDS and will move to the new channel. My School is teaching subjects such as Maths, English, Arabic, Science, from pre-school to early primary years. Future seasons will expand this to cover all primary years. The programme has achieved broad viewership with an audience of at least 1.3 million people – with the majority watching daily and others at least once a week.[2]
“I am eager to see this channel bring learning to the hearts and minds of refugees and our region’s most underserved children, youth, parents, and poorly equipped educators,” Sfeir says.
ESSENTIAL SERVICES FROM A TRUSTED RESOURCE
SAT-7 ACADEMY is SAT-7’s sixth channel to broadcast across the MENA. For the last 21 years, SAT-7 has aired various educational and social programmes, tackling the most pressing and evolving development issues in the region. The launch of SAT-7 ACADEMY is an addition to SAT-7’s ongoing quest to provide the best, most relevant and helpful holistic programming for its different audiences.
“Through this new channel and the different online platforms bearing our already trusted name, we will provide essential educational services to thousands of families who are in circumstances of considerable hardship. They will be able to access our learning content from any place, at any moment and, soon, through any device,” explains SAT-7 Founder and CEO, Dr Terence Ascott.
HOW TO WATCH
SAT-7 ACADEMY will be broadcast free-to-air from the Nilesat satellite to an audience across the Middle East and North Africa. Additionally, the channel will be viewable via online streaming to Arabic-speakers living around the world.
Channel name: SAT-7 ACADEMY
Satellite name: Nilesat (E7WA) at 7º West
Frequency: 10.727 GHz Horizontal
[1] MENA Out-of-School Children Initiative (OOSCI) overview report, April 2015
[2] IPSOS survey of 10 Arabic countries in July 2016.