What makes us different?
In difference we find our strength
OUR ORGANIZATION: An inverted pyramid
We are a democratic school, a place of learning run by children, for children. It is our students who have the decisive say in how the school is organized and run on a day-to-day basis.
26 Letters’ main team is made up of six teenagers who manage the school from opening to close every day. They make sure that the school runs according to schedule, undertake administrative tasks and monitor the progress of the students. The rest of our students are all free to volunteer in whichever way they would like to help, and can be involved in organizing, teaching, printing, managing activities or creating them.
26 Letters is now in the hands of those whom it was created to help.
OUR BOOKS: Every child is different, thus every book is different.
The school curriculum should adapt to students and not the other way around. This is why we develop our own books and class materials, which can later be personalized depending on the student’s needs, interests and demands. This helps us:
Motivate our students to keep on learning by reading about situations, characters and stories they can relate to and, thus, are interested in.
Mainstream ethics throughout the books. Integrating ethnic, racial, and cultural variety through texts and illustrations, along with gender and sexual diversity.
Empower our girls with images and stories of strong and independent women.
BIG SIBLING SYSTEM: We don’t have students.
We have siblings.Our educators are role models, friends, siblings. It is this atmosphere of friendship which encourages our students to attend classes and learn.
To ensure that all students are taken care of and treated as individuals with different needs and learning paces, we assign a maximum of 4 students per educator. This way our students do not only learn faster, but it also enables our educators to focus their attention, energy and care on their assigned students.
OUR PARENTS: The students are our siblings. Their parents are our parents
At 26 Letters, visiting the parents of our students is as important as students coming to class. Parents also need someone to talk to, someone to trust, someone that cares for them. As for us, we love drinking tea with them, sharing stories and experiences, and ensuring they learn the importance of education too.
Being welcomed can feel like a privilege. We make sure that the parents of our students feel like 26 Letters is also their home. They know that they can count on us because we count on them. The family members of our students have access to all our services and, like our students, our moms also have their own 26 Letters mom’s school.
TARGET GROUP: All is our goal.
We fight for free quality education for all.
Our target group is every child or teenager that lives in Beirut, Lebanon, and is in need of either educational, vocational or emotional support. As a result, our pupils come from very different economic, social, and religious backgrounds.
By studying and interacting together, they learn about plurality and respect.
NO AGEISM: Friendship is not dictated by age.
We all understand that we have loads to learn from one another, regardless of age. As Albert Einstein once said “If you only talk to people like you, you’ll never learn anything new.”
All ages are mixed during our activities and democratic workshops which boosts intergenerational friendships. At the same time, 26 Letters’ group of volunteers is very diverse in age. While our youngest volunteer is 11 years old, some volunteers have already retired. This is crucial for nurturing a co-operative and supportive atmosphere where students feel confident and can be themselves.