REFUGEE CHILDREN DESERVE EDUCATION TOO

BY REQUESTING the Ministry of Education to accept their children into the Guyanese school
system Venezuelan migrant mothers want to assure the current economic crisis do not endanger
the scions’ future.
Venezuela is in the throes of economic hardship and citizens are fleeing with their families to
neighbouring countries, including Guyana, in search of a better life. The sudden dislocation has
affecting children’s learning.
“We really want our children to be able to go to school as they can and will be able to better
learn the English and then be able to teach us but the schools telling us that the government has
not approved our children going to school,” one refugee related.
Deena, another Venezuelan migrant observed that “once we are living here…there should be
some systems put in place to help us and one such system is ensuring that our children can access
education.”
Deena has five children and plans seeking Guyanese citizenship. She is hurt by the stereotype
that the refugees are illiterate, and this flawed view has motivated into ensuring her children
receive a sound education.
So far, there has been no stated government education policy on the migrants’ children, and
schools in Region One (Barima/Waini) have been turning them away according to some parents’
complaints. Some have reported that efforts at enrolment have been met with blunt refusal as
several head teachers frankly say they are unable to accept the students “unless government gives
them a directive.”
Some Toshaos have been appealing on the authorities to provide an opportunity for the refugees’
children to enjoy a formal education while living in Guyana. Some Ministry of Education in
Region One worry that granting migrant children official access to schools would force the
government to provide a parallel system to cater those.

She accepts that providing a parallel system of learning for migrants’ children “may be too
costly” but as a compromise, education officials can employ interpreters to translate the lessons
into the students’ language.
This, she argued, will aid in educating the refugees, while simultaneously reducing any undue
financial burden on government
A Region One resident, Carl Henry, shares Deena’s views.
“We should look at the short-term…and therefore employing a few interpreters who would
ensure that the lessons are translated into their own language. [This] would greatly help. After
that, the very interpreters would be tasked with teaching them the English Language and this
would be very cost effective.”
“This doesn’t require any major work as once government can identify the interpreters then it
becomes easy with regards to the lessons. But I hold the firm view that these children should not
be denied an opportunity to have an education because the reality is that we do not know how
long they would be here for and what are the conditions that they would be forced to remain
under. Therefore, it is my firm view that Government should…be opening doors for them to
benefit from free education,” Henry continued.
Learning for the migrant children should be mandatory the same way it is compulsory they must
be screened and given various vaccines as part of Government’s responsibility for effective and
efficient health care, Henry argued.
He is questioning the double standards.
“This doesn’t make sense and I can tell you that even the Venezuelans are frustrated, upset and
tired because the future and possibilities of someone can be affected by the decision of not
getting them into school. This isn’t fair, and I hope that all like-minded individuals would stand
up so that their disapproval can be noted.”
Lydia, another refugee, blames the absence of schooling for the high rate of pregnancy among
the refugee girls, arguing that should the children be accepted into the pubic schools it would
help greatly in shaping cultures and behaviours of their adolescents

“If they are in school, they wouldn’t get the extra time to waste and also they would see other
girls their age still going to school and doing positive things. So, I think it would help them in
wanting to follow suit so they would realise that getting pregnant makes no sense,” Lydia
reasoned.
“This is a sad situation for many of these girls. What I can say is that many of them never went
looking to get pregnant but because pregnancy comes most times it has created a culture that the
young people love and many of them look forward to being pregnant as it provides an avenue of
other opportunities in their life,” she the mother of two.
It was revealed that while several refuges are determined to have their children accepted into the
public schools the fear among several others is that because of the economic challenges that they
would be unable to send their children to school even if Government gives the go ahead. This,
they said is because it’s considered a uphill task to provide for the refuges daily and to be
saddled with additional expenses of having to send children to school may be too much for many
of the families who can barely afford to feed themselves.
While the prospects and benefits of educating their children are appealing, Lydia was realistic.
“It’s already a challenge to provide food for ourselves. So, while I agree that education is
important the only benefit that I am seeing is that the children would get snacks at schools, thus
helping to reduce our bills as at least they (the children) would be able to have something to eat.”
“But to be honest with you I can’t focus on educating my children at the moment because I
want to be able to survive and maybe when that time comes we can focus on education and
other things because we would have been able to get pass the level of being able to find food
for our families,” Lydia observed.