From displacement to learning: Refugee students enter national education system

How a unified advocacy strategy by the UN and its partners helped open education access. 

PORT-OF-SPAIN, 24 December 2024 - When Astrid Marquez Saavedra walked into her fourth-grade classroom in Trinidad and Tobago for her first day of school, she was eager to learn maths—her favourite subject.

But the prospect of teaching fellow students about her homeland Venezuela was equally exciting.

“I would like them to know about my country,” the 11-year-old Venezuelan refugee said.

Astrid was among the first cohort of refugee and migrant children from Venezuela permitted by the Government to enter the national public education system in Trinidad and Tobago in September 2024.

This milestone came five years after the Government of Trinidad and Tobago conducted a national registration exercise for Venezuelan refugees and migrants. While participating Venezuelans were granted the right to live and work in Trinidad and Tobago, registration permits did not give refugee, and migrant children access to government-funded schools.

After amending the country’s immigration regulations in 2024, the Venezuelan children who were registered with the Government finally became eligible for public school enrollment.

At first, 60 of at least 148 children who applied for enrollment met the admission criteria, including possession of a certified, translated birth certificate and immunization record. Those 60 children received letters assigning them to a school.

“These young people, should they stay in Trinidad and Tobago, would be adequately prepared to enter the workforce of this country, filling gaps in the labor market and contributing to innovation and sustainability,” said IOM Trinidad and Tobago Head of Office ad interim, Desery Jordan-Whiskey. “It’s also an opportunity for these children, who are mostly Spanish speaking, to contribute just as much as they would gain by helping their peers learn a second language.”

This milestone in refugee and migrant integration in Trinidad and Tobago was the culmination of public and behind-the-scenes advocacy by a coalition of UN agencies, civil society organizations, the diplomatic corps, and denominational education boards all working together in collaboration with the government.

"It’s been a real team effort,” reflected UNHCR Head of Office for Trinidad and Tobago, Amanda Solano. “It shows how different organizations can contribute to addressing a complex problem together.” 

Reflecting on the outcome, U.S. Ambassador to Trinidad and Tobago Candace Bond said, “This achievement is a direct result of years of hard work and collaboration between government, civil society, and diplomatic partners.  The progress we have made together on inclusive education will be life-changing for these children and their families.”

Collaborative Advocacy and Strategy

Coordination among different UN agencies was instrumental. UNICEF, UNHCR, and IOM, buttressed by the UN Resident Coordinator, Joanna Kazana, spearheaded the UN’s leadership on this strategic advocacy effort.

“Championing the cause of access to education is best served when different teams in the UN are all moving in the same direction, in similar ways, with the same partners,” Ms. Kazana reflected. “And in this case, the UN was able to take an effective leadership role to bring external partners along on this journey by ensuring that our own collaboration was strong and synchronized. In doing this, we ensured our partners saw a united front, and our audiences heard a coherent message.”

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) give the UN a valuable framework to identify commonalities, according to the UNICEF Eastern Caribbean Office. 

“Collaboration with other UN agencies is most effective when it is rooted in areas where our efforts naturally intersect, as they do under the SDGs,” said UNICEF Eastern Caribbean Representative a.i. Jean-Benoit Manhes.

Another component of this strategy was effectively leveraging the UN’s role as a convener to bring different stakeholders to the table.

One such forum was the Education Working Group (EWG), a committee co-chaired by UNICEF and UNHCR that comprises denominational school boards, faith-based organizations, NGOs, and development organizations. 

A successful collaborative space for stakeholders to share ideas and rally around common objectives was the Humanitarian Breakfast Series, a quarterly knowledge exchange event hosted under the banner of the UN Secretary-General’s Regional Inter-Agency Coordination Platform for Refugees and Migrants from Venezuela (R4V) and co-chaired by IOM and UNHCR.

Each installment of the series discussed different imperatives for the social and economic integration of Venezuelan refugees and migrants living in Trinidad and Tobago. The right to receive an education featured prominently during this series.

In fact, it was during the July 2023 edition of the Humanitarian Breakfast Series that the country’s Minister of Foreign and CARICOM Affairs officially announced the Government’s decision to allow refugee and migrant children to enter the public school system.

“It was a major breakthrough,” Ms. Solano recalled.

Beyond Advocacy: Direct Support for Families

The coalition of like-minded stakeholders didn’t stop at simply advocating for change.

The EWG supported the country’s Ministry of Education by assisting with initial English language proficiency testing, facilitated by the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI). Although this was no longer required in the final registration process, the assessment remains available to assist schools in preparing for students.

PADF also provided professional support and services with the certified translation of birth certificates, a requirement in the Ministry of Education’s application guidelines for Venezuelan families.

Recognizing families' financial hurdles, EWG members coordinated efforts to reduce economic strain and enable students’ focus on learning and thriving. UNHCR provided school supplies and backpacks, PADF offered access to textbooks and other school supplies, and UNICEF disbursed grants to support any unmet needs, including uniforms, textbooks, and transportation.

UNICEF and UNHCR continue working with partners to offer informal parallel education programs and integrated services through Child-Friendly Spaces, so these children can access learning while they wait for places in the national school system. Through the Heroes Development Program, PADF and its partner the Heroes Foundation also provide complementary life skills development and alternative education support for children and youth who are unable to access formal schools in Trinidad and Tobago.

In the next phase of this collaboration, the Education Working Group is working with the Government of Trinidad and Tobago to better understand all the training and logistical support that would be required to accommodate larger numbers of refugee and migrant children into local schools.

The hope is that many more students like Astrid will be able to walk into the nation’s classrooms to start the 2025-2026 academic year.