Not all refugees can go to school because there is not enough space, and choices are therefore necessary. This is what the Education Inspectorate says in a report published on Wednesday The State of Education. The organizations involved point out that they cannot and do not always want to make those choices.
Every child in the Netherlands has the right to education, whether you were born in the Netherlands, are the child of a status holder or live in an emergency shelter. But education for the group of newcomers has too little space to teach all these children.
“We are dealing with scarcity. There is a shortage of teachers and places in schools. The pressure on the scarcity increases as more students come in. So you have to make choices in who is entitled to education here. And we have to allocate places,” says Alida Oppers, Inspector General of the Education Inspectorate.
Krijg meldingen bij nieuws over de asielopvang
The Inspectorate does not want to say which choices these could be, because it says it is not about that. She also emphasizes the right to education. “But the shortages show that that is complicated.”
It is not the first time that the Education Inspectorate has drawn attention to education for refugees. The inspector warned last weekalong with three other inspectorates, that education at temporary locations is far below par – if there is any education at all.
‘There is no doubt that choices have to be made’
“In principle, the choices that have to be made are up to politicians,” responds Thijs den Otter of the PO-Raad, the sector organization for primary education. He also speaks on behalf of LOWAN-po, the organization that helps newcomers education in primary schools. “We have the position that all children have the right to education. We want to and cannot make that choice.”
LOWAN-vo, which deals with secondary education, calls the question of which choices to be made “a very difficult one”. “But there is no doubt that choices have to be made. For example, the ministry is working on a kind of temporary school for children on the list. That could be one of the choices,” says a spokesperson.
LOWAN and the PO Council have sounded the alarm several times about newcomer education. In November, LOWAN already told NU.nl that the schools were “really nokkie, nokkie full”. In April it turned out that less than half of the schools already have a total of 1,150 children on the waiting list.
Organizations want temporary shelter to end
But it is not known exactly how many children are at home. The Inspectorate sees that there are no precise figures about refugee children sitting at home. They are not registered with municipalities, or are not registered with the educational authorities due to unclear agreements or the hectic pace of asylum reception.
A first step to solving the problems is to stop “carrying around with children”, says Den Otter. “Refugee children are placed in one location for a short time, move to the next within six weeks and to place c within two months. As a newcomer education you cannot build a plan for that. A solution must be found for that, and then we can also work with the rest.”
LOWAN-vo also says that something needs to be done in the shelter to solve the education problem. “We have to stop with that temporary shelter,” says a spokesman. “Then you ask the impossible of schools. They cannot organize education for one or two months. Divide the children in small numbers over more sustainable reception locations. Then you can mean something as an education.”
UNICEF says in a response that it shares the concerns about newcomer education. The organization believes that a “sustainable solution” is needed quickly, for example by allowing schools and municipalities to work more closely together. “It is very important for the development of refugee children that they can receive education,” says a spokesperson. “The longer children go to school, the more difficult it becomes to socialize and to stay motivated.”
2023-05-12 03:07:48
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