The left in the Berlin House of Representatives is calling for more efforts to enable refugee children and young people to attend regular schools and receive appropriate education. “If school-age children have to live in mass accommodation and are also educated there, then I consider that a catastrophe,” said parliamentary group leader Anne Helm to the German Press Agency.
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“They have no contact at all with the educational institutions in this city, with society as a whole.” This is unacceptable, and the responsible bodies in the Senate must work better here. The consequences for the personality development of the children affected, who are in an exceptional situation after their experience of fleeing and need more support to gain a foothold in society, are unforeseeable. “We do not yet know when Ukrainian children, for example, will be able to return, or whether they will return at all,” said Tobias Schulze, co-chair of the Left Party. “Many will probably stay here permanently.” The foundations for the future lives of these children are laid in daycare and, above all, school. “If you know that, you must leave no doubt at all that they must be given the same opportunities and the same education as all other children.”
According to Schulze, there are still reserves of schools to accommodate refugee children. “Not all schools are equally full. There are very full schools. But there are also schools that have smaller classes, especially in primary schools.”
At the same time, there is no doubt that there is a shortage of school places that affects all Berliners. “It is not just refugee children who currently do not have a school place, but there are also other children who are waiting for school places and are not being educated as much as they should be,” complained Schulze.
Therefore, in addition to short-term solutions in schools, investments in new school places are also needed, added Helm. “We are concerned that the school building initiative could now be cut back, even though it really needs to be moved much faster. We must not go back to the days when we drove the entire infrastructure to the point of wear and tear, including the school places.”
The left in the Berlin House of Representatives is calling for more efforts to enable refugee children and young people to attend regular schools and receive appropriate education. “If school-age children have to live in mass accommodation and are also educated there, then I consider that a catastrophe,” said parliamentary group leader Anne Helm to the German Press Agency.
“They have no contact at all with the educational institutions in this city, with society as a whole.” This is unacceptable, and the responsible bodies in the Senate must work better here. The consequences for the personality development of the children affected, who are in an exceptional situation after their experience of fleeing and need more support to gain a foothold in society, are unforeseeable. “We do not yet know when Ukrainian children, for example, will be able to return, or whether they will return at all,” said Tobias Schulze, co-chair of the Left Party. “Many will probably stay here permanently.” The foundations for the future lives of these children are laid in daycare and, above all, school. “If you know that, you must leave no doubt at all that they must be given the same opportunities and the same education as all other children.”
