Education Exchange: Welcoming refugees into your school and community

Myassar Al Itani is a primary teacher at Mohammad Shamel Public School in Beirut who has successfully worked in global, international projects and bringing the world to her classroom. She has a successful educational collaboration with UK schools focusing on the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals and education in times of crisis as part of the British Council Connecting Classrooms programme.

Mahesh Kumar is visionary professional having more than 25 years of management experience across private and public sector organizations. He is currently working with Overseas Pakistani Foundation (OPF) as Director General (Education) where he is responsible for overseeing all matters related to general administration and HR of 28 OPF Educational Institutions across the length and breadth of Pakistan.

Before joining OPF, Mahesh worked with the Higher Education Commission, Pakistan. Diverse experience of working with different public sector organizations has enriched his insights about the challenges and constraints for effective implementation of education and distance learning related projects in the public sector.

Katy Noble is the Global Head of Education in Emergencies (EiE) at Teach For All, a growing network of 60 independent partner organizations. Their focus is to develop the collective leadership needed to ensure all children can fulfill their potential. 

Katy has over a decade of humanitarian experience working in INGOs, UN agencies, local education organizations and schools. She started her career as a secondary school teacher in London, through the Teach First programme, where she taught Psychology, Sociology and Citizenship. Since leaving the classroom, Katy has lived and worked in South Sudan, Ethiopia, Palestine, Iraq, Bangladesh and Pakistan. She has also deployed for short-term EiE support to Afghanistan, Nigeria, Ukraine, Sudan and Lebanon. Having held a variety of roles, Katy has worked across the different levels of a humanitarian response, from the strategic and policy-level down to the implementation and school-level. 

She enjoys keeping one foot in teaching whenever time allows, and has been an EiE Instructor at the University of Geneva, a faculty member at the University of Deakin’s Humanitarian Leadership Programme, and a Simulation Facilitator on Save the Children’s Senior Humanitarian Intermediate Programme.

Ageta Lameck has worked for Windle International Uganda for the last 4 years having previously worked with WIU as Regional MEAL Coordinator in the West Nile Region.

At Education in Emergency working group, Lameck is the Chairperson for the Language Task Team.

Prior to joining Development and Humanitarian work with Non-Governmental Organizations, Lameck worked as Assistant Education Officer for 11 years as a professional teacher of English Language and Literature in English at lower secondary schools in Uganda.

Lameck holds Masters in International Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (MICHA) of Kalue Institute; PGD Monitoring and Evaluation UMI; Bachelor’s degree in Development studies and Diploma in Education Secondary (English Language and Literature in English) Kyambogo University.

Hamed Asghari, has more than 14 years of teaching and management experience. As a Programme Manager/Schools at British Council Afghanistan for 13 years, Hamed has played a key role in establishing and maintaining a mutually trusting relationship between the British Council and Afghan strategic partners, including the Ministry of Education as our main stakeholder, Provincial Education Directorates and Schools.

Hamad has successfully managed the British Council global education programme "Connecting Classrooms" for over 10 years. Aside from management and leadership roles, Hamad has successfully implemented Core Skills trainings for schools' English teachers, head teachers, and policymakers. One of his great achievements was embedding the British Council core skills into the Afghan national curriculum. 

Hamad also worked as a consultant for the Warm Welcome Scholarships schemes as well as for the Alumni UK Programme.