Anwar 'Arafat Building, Behind Al-Shifa Hospital
Al Rimal, Gaza City, Gaza Strip, via Israel
Tel 00 972 7 864 021 (after 5 p.m.)
Fax 00 972 7 821 049/821 302
Administrative Director: Mr. Yahya Idris
Educational Director: Ms. Feriyal Hillis
Non-profit; resource; in-service training; community outreach; assessment; production.
Initiated by the Quakers in 1970 and since October 1993 under supervision of a Palestinian Administrative Council, the Palestinian Early Childhood Education Program (PECEP) is dedicated to the development of early childhood education in the Gaza Strip. The Program has give components. The Gaza Kindergarten Program established 14 kindergartens in 10 refugee camps in the Strip, in which more than 1400 children are enrolled yearly. The kindergartens offer half-day programs for six days a week; methods are based on progressive educational theories.
The Mother's Understanding Methods (MUM's) project was established in 1975. The MUM's team consists of one supervisor and thirteen mushidat (guides), each of whom covers a particular area with approximately 22 mothers. The murshideh visits mothers of four-year-old children three times a week to advise them on educational methods, to provide them with activities and games for their children, and to discuss issues related to the child and to the mother. The project reaches around 350 children. The Murshidat are under constant supervision and regularly attend educational workshops.
The Early Childhood Resource Center was established in Breij Camp in 1987 to provide in-service training and technical support to the 250 kindergartens of the Gaza Strip. The Center offers various services, including training courses, workshops, meetings, visits to and assessments of kindergartens, publications, a library, and a toys workshop. The program is based on child-centered methodology, strong parental involvement, and learning through play.
The Carpentry Project produces wooden educational toys to be used in the 14 PECEP kindergartens and in the MUM's project. It aims to increase awareness of the importance of learning through play by distributing the toys among as wide a public as possible.
The Children's House Library was established in 1992 in Nuseirat Camp and provides books to children between 5 and 15 years of age. The library includes a wide range of educational and fictional books and stories.
The Palestinian Early Childhood Education Program has a Technical, an Educational and an Administrative Director. It employs over 85 teachers, administrative staff, mushidat, carpenters, librarians and drivers. The PECEP is supervised by the Palestinian Administrative Council, which has 11 members.
Fax information sheet about PECEP.
Elaine Clark
Educational Network, POB 66, Ramallah, West Bank
tel: 02 995 6230/fax: 02 995 6231 e-mail: eclark@ednet.birzeit.edu