Nittedal municipality can become a “waiting room municipality” for several thousand refugees before settling in other municipalities. The municipal management asks the authorities for flexibility in relation to the schooling of the children from Ukraine.
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The majority will be children that the municipality welcomes in every way. The closed Glittre Sanatorium is being prepared to function as a so-called waiting reception. In a waiting room municipality, refugees live while they wait for registration at the National Arrival Center in Råde.
According to the municipal management, it is also relevant to use the old hospital as an emergency room, where registered refugees live for up to 8 weeks before they are settled in another municipality.
Such long stays trigger rights to schooling for children.
– If we get accommodation for up to 650 people for between 1 to 8 weeks, there will be about 250-300 children under 16 on Glittre at any one time. A large proportion of these children will be eligible for schooling. So many new foreign language students are not able to receive our ordinary schools in a short time. It will take time to establish a full-fledged school for this group. It will also entail large costs that we believe the State has not said it is willing to cover, says councilor Finn Christian Brevig in Nittedal municipality.
–Want an individual agreement
The municipality wants an individual agreement with the UDI, where the requirement for schooling is eased. They are asking for financial compensation for the costs of running a school. According to the councilor, the UDI will not enter into any individual agreement with the municipality, nor will it confirm that such costs are covered.
– It may seem that the state does not sufficiently take on the practical challenges the municipality receives in establishing an emergency room, says Brevig.
Several municipalities fear the Education Act: A large majority of the refugees who come from Ukraine are children. They have the right to school after a short time in Norway. One of the requirements for municipalities that are to run emergency accommodation is to ensure that children and young people get an education.
– We really want to step in and we ask the authorities for two things: We will accept children who will move on after a short time. Therefore, we want the authorities to allow us to create a customized school program with activities for the children during the short time they stay in our municipality. We therefore want to establish language-homogeneous groups, to ensure that the Ukrainian children can speak together in their own mother tongue, he says and adds:
– We believe it will be best for the Ukrainian children. In addition, it will be very difficult to run ordinary classes in a good way, if many foreign-language children come in only for short periods, says Brevig.
–– We are very determined to establish school offers as soon as possible, but we believe that the best thing for everyone is that this offer is established outside the normal school, says Brevig.
He says the supply of interpreters is limited and must be utilized well and efficiently.
– The municipality has on request received many inquiries from language-competent residents, and these will be important partners in the future, says the councilor.
He is concerned about the schools that have been under pressure for two years with pandemics.
– I agree with the State’s goal that the children should enter a normal situation as soon as possible, but the most important thing is that they should feel safe, have housing, food and receive the necessary health care.
Great willingness to settle
The country’s municipalities announced earlier this week how many refugees they could receive.
298 of 356 municipalities responded to IMDI’s inquiry.
In a normal situation, the municipalities are asked to settle 5,500 refugees a year. Now the municipalities must settle almost four times as many.
– The larger municipalities report large capacity and willingness to settle. Some municipalities also report opportunities to increase capacity, under given conditions, said director of IMDI, Libe Rieber-Mohn to VG on Thursday.
Also read: Opens reception in hotels and treatment centers
Indre Østfold’s municipal director told VG that employees fear not being able to deliver well enough. They also want to be trusted and a flexibility in relation to the Education Act, so that they get in good, local measures around children and schooling.
–State Secretary Halvard Hølleland in the Ministry of Education says that the starting point is that Ukrainian children and young people should be offered kindergarten and school places as soon as possible when they come to Norway.
– It contributes to stability and a little normalcy in an otherwise difficult and chaotic life situation. IMDi is responsible for mapping the municipalities’ capacity for settlement of refugees. The costs are covered through an integration grant.
Hølleland says that the Ministry of Education and Research is in close dialogue with both other ministries and the Directorate of Education to assist in good cooperation and good solutions, when many refugees now come to Norway within a short period of time.
– The number of refugees who come is of course of great importance for the municipalities’ ability to quickly settle those who come, and give them the offer they need. It is true that the Education Act means that refugees have the right to education as soon as possible and no later than within a month. But under certain conditions, the municipality can organize the training offer for newly arrived students in its own groups, classes or schools. There is thus flexibility in how the municipalities organize the training, says the State Secretary.
An inspection has been carried out on Glittre and the building can probably be prepared in the coming week, also with health services in place.
– The municipality has resources from the corona organization that can be used at the reception in a short time. We assume that expenses are covered by the State, says the councilor.
The National Reception Center in Råde is in great demand and does not necessarily have the capacity to carry out all its tasks.
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