Education impact report - Summer 2025

An update on MCC education projects

A child in Syria plays with Jenga blocks at a table of his peers.

Syria Bangladesh — Aug 2025

menu_book Impact report

Education

August 01, 2025

Lifting up Syria's children

You're helping teachers go above and beyond for students impacted by conflict

Children in Syria are growing up in the midst of ongoing conflict and the devastation left by the 2023 earthquake. With limited access to school and learning resources, many children are falling behind.

Your compassionate support has equipped MCC partner Christian Hope Center to serve 223 schoolaged children in Aleppo through their program at The Children’s University Center. Established three years ago, the center provides children with engaging extracurricular activities that foster a love of learning and expand children’s horizons in a supportive, safe environment.

Because of your help over the last year, the Center now has:

A furnished and decorated learning center with desks, bookshelves and more.
A digital library where children can access educational and cultural books in English, French and Arabic
English lessons and programs that dive into topics like engineering, medicine and media.

Banner photo caption: With your encouragement and support, Fadi* is building his social skills and nurturing his curiosity at The Children's University Center in Aleppo. (Photo courtesy of Christian Hope Center)

*Child's last name withheld for security reasons.

Innovative education in remote Bangladeshi communities

You’re championing bilingual education for Indigenous students

Bangladesh is home to 45 diverse Indigenous communities — many of which live in remote parts of the country. When it comes to access to quality education, these communities are all too often overlooked, particularly during a child’s early years.

Children from Indigenous communities often start school late. They also face a language barrier since primary education is taught in Bangla, which is not their native language. As a result, primary school drop-out rates among Indigenous communities are at 60% — the highest in the country.

I am working day and night for my son and my mother to feed them well and to ensure that my son can go to school regularly. He is the ray of hope for me.

Jacinta Marday

MLE student's mother

Over the past year, here’s how you’ve championed these young students:

Students at ten MLE schools received school supplies and uniforms.
333 parents attended parent-teacher meetings at 17 MLE schools to learn more about MLE and how to support their children's learning.
329 students participated in 34 youth language club meetings to continue fostering a culture of learning and support at MLE schools.

Partner spotlight: MAASAUS

MAASAUS is one of MCC’s key NGO partners in these Multilingual Education Projects. MAASAUS is an Indigenous, nonprofit development organization that serves ethnic minority communities in the northern area of Bangladesh. MAASAUS is a trusted MCC partner, collaborating on education and peacebuilding initiatives.

Access to education for every child

Raj Hasda, a primary student in Bangladesh, stands in a field as he makes his way to school in the morning. — Raj Hasda is a primary student at a Multilingual Pre-primary Education (MLPE) school in Bangladesh. Your support helps Raj learn in both his mother tongue and Bangla as he makes the transition to primary school. (MCC photo/James Kisku)

Raj is thriving because of your generosity

Raj and his mother, Jacinta, live in Jogodishpur — a small, remote village surrounded by farmland in western Bangladesh. Their home is part of the Mahale community, one of 45 Indigenous groups in the country.

Eight-year-old Raj attends a government primary school, where his classes are taught in Bangla — a language he doesn’t speak at home. For Raj, who also lives with a speech impediment, this language barrier makes learning especially difficult.

Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, Raj’s days now look a little different.

Each afternoon, after attending his government school, he walks to his village’s Multilingual Pre-primary Education (MLE) school — a place where he can learn in his own mother tongue. There, Raj and his classmates are not only gaining academic skills, but also growing in confidence as they prepare to learn in Bangla.

With growing confidence and big dreams of becoming a doctor, Raj is well on his way to fully participating in his education, thanks to your generosity.

*To learn more about MCC education initiatives visit mcc.org/education

Your impact around the world

With your support, MCC partners are taking down the barriers to education for children and young people around the globe. Here are a few recent examples of how you’re making a difference in people’s lives:

Initiative: You supported Tz’utujil students in Santiago Atitlán with resources and training. Over 96% of primary students and 100% of high school students graduated from their grade levels.

Partner: New Dawn Association of Santiago Atitlán, Asociación Nuevo Amanecer de Santiago Atitlán

Initiative: Your generous support has ensured that
150 orphans and vulnerable children in Juba can go to school. By covering their school fees, you have helped them get into the classroom and connect with teachers, counsellors and staff.

Partner: South Sudan Council of Churches

Initiative: For 341 preschool students, your support has provided additional education and healthy food to encourage their development and bridge significant learning gaps.

Partner: Development Action Society

Initiative: Young people in Prey Veng province have received training on how to craft and execute small business plans. Seventy new business plans have been developed over the last three years.

Partner: Organization to Develop our Villages

A donor's family legacy

Legacy donor, JoAnne Janzen, sits in a booth with mug in hand. — “I support MCC with all my heart,” reflects JoAnne Janzen. To honour the life-changing support her own mother received from MCC as a child, JoAnne has left MCC a gift in her will.

As a child, JoAnne Janzen’s mother was provided meals at an MCC soup kitchen in southern Russia (present-day Ukraine) in the 1920s. This personal family connection to MCC instilled a deep sense of gratitude in JoAnne and a commitment to support the organization.

To honour her family’s history, JoAnne has left a gift in her will for MCC. Through her thoughtful generosity, JoAnne will continue to make a difference beyond her lifetime, reaching people around the world with the same compassionate, practical help her mother received over a century ago.

Learn more about how you can leave MCC a gift in your will at mcc.org/legacy