Education in the time of a pandemic is every child’s right
UNICEF has provided 112 tablets for children to use during support classes and language courses, which also strengthens their digital competencies.
- Srpski
- English
Vranje, Serbia, 19 March 2021 - “I want to live in Finland and be a doctor or dentist. I think school is very important, not just for me, but for everyone”, twelve-year-old Roma tells us confidently. She speaks five languages, paints, has the best grades in school. She is sociable, open, has a sense of humour. But no child should experience the things this girl has in the last five years. She fled Iraq with her mother, father and two younger brothers. She lived in refugee and migrant camps in Turkey, Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“First I went to school in Iraq for a year, then for three years in Greece, and then another year in Bosnia”, explains Roma.
She has been in Serbia, at the Reception Centre in Vranje, for five months now. Roma is enrolled in school, but due to the pandemic, she is now attending it remotely – online. Twice a week, she attends maths and biology classes according to a programme tailored to her needs.
Roma, her eight-year-old brother Ravil, and sixteen other school children at the Reception Centre in Vranje are included in the project “Akelius platform – support to the education of refugee and migrant children in Serbia – response to the COVID-19 emergency through online learning” launched in June 2020 as a UNICEF and Akelius Foundation joint initiative.
The project is being implemented in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development and the Commissariat for Refugees and Migration, and aims to close the digital divide and ensure continuity in the learning of refugee and migrant children, during and after the COVID-19 epidemic. Teachers from local schools provide children in three reception centres with continuous online learning support. Ten-week online English language courses are also being organized. UNICEF has provided 112 tablets for children to use during support classes and language courses, which also strengthens their digital competencies. Around 300 refugee and migrant children are expected to receive this type of support by the end of the project.
“English language courses are held by final-year students from the English language department of the Faculty of Philosophy, University of Nis, and the learning support is provided by teachers-mentors from local mainstream schools attended by the children”, explains Ivana Milanovic, coordinator of the Akelius project, who has been working with children at the Centre in Vranje, in southern Serbia, for 4 years now.
So far, 51 children have completed the English language course, and 140 girls and boys in three Centres for the Accommodation of Refugees and Migrants in Belgrade, Vranje and Sid have received online support for regular attendance of formal education. Teachers, parents and children are noticing the progress in learning and competencies. The children are satisfied with the classes and teachers and are motivated to join both the English language courses and online sessions for additional support to learning.
Roma, already a polyglot, explains to us how much the support meant to her and says, “My English wasn't good, but here when I go to online school it is better than before.” Roma’s parents also know how crucial education is for the future of their children.
“It’s very important for children to go to school, to learn everything, learn the language. I will support them in whatever they decide to do in life,” says the mother Razah.
An NGO from Nis also provides support for online learning to children in the Centre in Vranje, within the Akelius project.
“One of our tasks is to review all the materials that children are working on in their classes, and then to go over them again within our non-formal education activities. Many children don’t know any language other than their mother tongue, so psychological support is very important at this point, both for them and their parents,” explains Gordana Radojkovic from Indigo.
At psychological workshops, there are often discussions about how education brings economic, social and health-related benefits, and that it’s the most important tool for fighting discrimination.
“What we always emphasize in our work with children and parents is that the right to education is their right. It’s the right of every child in the world. The things they learn here will be of practical use for them wherever they go,” explains Gordana.
Roma already knows that the right to education is her right too and that no one should deny it to her. That’s why she can’t wait to learn Finnish, in addition to Arabic, Farsi, Serbian, Greek and English, and become one of the best dentists or doctors.
Since the start of the refugee and migrant crisis, UNICEF has been providing various types of education support to refugee and migrant children through activities and forms of non-formal learning. Through the support provided to the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, school administrations and local institutions and partners, UNICEF is contributing to the inclusion of refugee and migrant children in mainstream education immediately upon their arrival to the Republic of Serbia, and promoting regular school attendance, especially for unaccompanied children and girls
