The Terre des hommes Romania Foundation warns that foreign children do NOT have real access to education in Romania and thus their fundamental right to learn at school is not respected.
At least 10,000 children and young people who arrive in Romania experience a kind of educational vacuum at some point, where they miss out on stages of their learning and are therefore denied a chance at a profession. They all come here for safety and a better life, but while some of them are helped, others are not.
Even under non-pandemic circumstances, foreign children in Romania have great problems in starting or continuing their education here, because:
- They do not have enough support in learning the Romanian language
- They do not receive adequate assistance with the papers recognizing studies completed in their country of origin and with making up for gaps in their learning
- They cannot take exams
- In the beginning, when they start to attend classes and sit silently, they do not have access to textbooks, supplies, and scholarships, nor do they benefit from national programs, such as "Milk and horn".
- They are enrolled at school in classes below their age (even up to four school years below) or in the "Second Chance" program (intended for adults).
However, the National Education Law stipulates that the state guarantees all foreign minors (immigrants, refugees or persons with subsidiary protection) equal rights of access to all levels and forms of pre-university and university education, as well as lifelong learning, without any form of discrimination.
These rights must be respected, and in this sense, the Terre des hommes Foundation has launched an advocacy action and a videocast, to bring to the attention of the public and of the authorities the voices of immigrant children and the major obstacles that make their education extremely difficult in Romania.
Listen to a podcast where some migrant children talk about their problems and their dreams (A few immigrant children and Romanian volunteers had a dialogue and confessed to each other their experiences -- good or sad -- and their dreams).
”The dreams of children without a country”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S50eOizIm4o
An excerpt: “I went to school and I didn't understand anything. The teachers told me to read something in Romanian (out loud), but I said I couldn't. And the teacher said <The Arabs come here and give money to do what they want…>. I didn't understand anything then, because I didn't know Romanian, I just smiled ".
At the end of 2019, there were 15,794 young people (under 19) coming from other countries with the right to stay in Romania, according to the General Inspectorate for Immigration* (6,300 more than in 2015). Some (young adults) come for studies, but we estimate that at least 10,000 of these minors are in Romania for a safer life or, in the case of refugees, to avoid life-threatening situations at home. In addition, they often already have psycho-social problems because they have faced different types of violence directly or indirectly in their own country, sometimes even in the family.
Under these conditions, education is essential for their lives to take a positive turn.
The Terre des hommes Foundation’s concerns are addressed in particular to children and young people from non-European countries, asylum seekers or beneficiaries of some form of international protection. To help these children, the foundation, which carries out projects to help migrant populations, has a series of recommendations that it recently sent to the Government, the Ministry of Education, the Education Commission of Presidency, Education Trade Unions, and the Coalition for Migrants' Rights. Here are just a few of them:
- adopting the National Program for the Education of Immigrants, Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Stateless Persons by the Ministry of Education and Research as an organized ensemble of activities and services established by law and financed from the state budget
- Organizing a preparatory year in the pre-university education system for learning the Romanian language and acquiring specific knowledge
- Enrolling children and young audients in the Integrated Information System of Education in Romania (SIIIR) so that they have access to textbooks, supplies, social scholarships, and programs such as "Milk and Horn"
The full list of Terre des hommes Foundation recommendations for institutions responsible for integrating immigrants and refugees can be found at the following link. This advocacy action takes place within the project "Mentoring for the Integration of children affected by migration" (MINT), co-funded by the European Union, through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund.
The advocacy letter can be read here https://tdh.ro/sites/default/files/2020-09/Access%20to%20education%20for%20migrant%20children%20and%20youth%20in%20Romania.PDF
*The figures were provided to the Terre des hommes Foundation by the General Inspectorate for Immigration, as the Ministry of Education and Research does not collect or publish any statistical data on the access of foreign minors, asylum seekers, and beneficiaries of international protection in the public system.
