Uni Students Help Refugees Embrace Education

A Not for Profit organisation led by Victorian university students is celebrating serving over 500 students in its first 5 years.

Embrace Education offers free tutoring and mentoring for disadvantaged high school students across Victoria, particularly those from refugee and recent migrant backgrounds.

Matthew Malishev, President of Embrace Education, says the organisations owes its success to the commitment of nearly 300 university over its five years of operation.

“We have gone from strength to strength thanks to the diligence of the past and present committee members behind the scenes and to all of the students volunteering at schools or with students” Malishev says.

Embrace Education’s core programs match university students – who commit at least 1-2 hours per week – with high school students in a tutor or mentor role, through ‘Homework Clubs’, ‘In-School Tutoring’ and ‘Individual Tutoring’ programs.

Above: Will – a volunteer university student from Monash University – tutors at a homework club.

The inspiration for the organisations came when several Monash University students were invited to attend a homework club at a local secondary school.

Emil Kogan, co-founder of Embrace Education, noticed that many students, particularly those from a refugee background had a limited understanding of VCE English and Maths.

“Many of the students struggled to integrate into the Australian schooling system after only one year at an English Language School. Embrace Education provides mentors to help many of these students understand the complexities of the Australian curriculum”. Kogan says.

Samatha Dewhurst, a teacher at Westall Secondary College in Melbourne’s South Eastern suburbs, believes that their Homework Club has allowed “great improvement in students at the school”.

Dewhurst says “There is always an extra buzz on Wednesdays as our students look forward to homework club. The Monash University students are always happy and are wonderfully patient with our newly arrived and refugee students.”

Embrace Education aims to expand its programs in the coming years, and expand its services to secondary schools in North Western Metropolitan Melbourne, and is seeking federal and state funding.

For more information on Embrace Education, please visit: http://www.embrace-education.org/

University students can get involved through Embrace Education’s website: http://www.embrace-education.org/volunteer/

Disclosure: Emil Kogan is an employee of Pro Bono Australia