amala education
Tonbridge
Amala (formerly known as Sky School) was conceived in 2017, in response to the
gap in quality education provision for displaced youth. Our name is inspired by
the Arabic word for hope, which our education embodies. We believe that young
refugees - as all people - have a right to quality education. Yet, fewer than
one in three refugees are able to complete their secondary education and only 6%
are able to access higher education. In 2016, Amala co-founders Mia and Polly
were working on a prestigious scholarship; the programme admitted refugees to
schools around the world to complete their upper secondary education. They found
that for every scholarship place available, hundreds of promising applicants
were turned away. Their subsequent research showed that there were few
educational opportunities available for refugee youth aged 16-25, many of whom
are forced to drop out of educational systems due to the barriers they face. The
idea for Amala was born: to provide transformational learning programmes for
displaced youth and their host communities to improve their lives today and open
up opportunities for the future. Amala has two key programmes: The Amala High
School Diploma, the first high school diploma designed for and with refugee
youth, and Changemaker Courses in areas such as Peace-building, Ethical
Leadership and Social Entrepreneurship. Amala supports students to access
further opportunities for education, training and work beyond their studies.
Read more about our programmes here. Amala’s curriculum has been developed with
the support of our educational partner UWC South East Asia, one of the largest
international schools in the world with an expertise in values-based curriculum
development, and led by UWCSEA’s former Director of Teaching and Learning Stuart
MacAlpine, in collaboration with refugee youth and 150 educators. Amala learning
focuses on the development of learner agency as well as competencies that enable
learners to make change in their lives and communities. Amala learning is
delivered through a blended learning model and in light of Covid-19 many courses
have been adapted to an online model. Amala programmes are delivered both
directly by Amala and in collaboration with partners whose missions are aligned
to our own. Through collaborating with partners we have been able to bring
transformational education to refugees in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Europe
and Latin America. Read more about where we work here and how to become a
partner here. Amala is established as a non-profit organisation in the United
Kingdom, and our remote team spans London, Singapore, Greece, Jordan and Kenya.
