Press Release
 

03/03/2017
 

Athens – The European Union (EU) is backing a special education programme that has helped 2,500 refugee and migrant children get back to school in Greece. The International Organization for Migration (IOM) provides the transportation and the bus escorts who accompany the migrant and refugee children from accommodation facilities to the nearest Greek schools.

Together with the Greek Ministry of Education, Research and Religious Affairs, IOM in Greece ensures the safe transportation of migrant and refugee children from the facilities where they are being accommodated to their schools, and equips them with school kits including notebooks, pens, pencils and other necessary educational material. The escorts accompany the children on the buses and make sure the children’s daily commute to school is safe and organized.

According to the latest figures from IOM, 61 school buses take the children from the accommodation centres to 94 nearby schools on a daily basis.  

Describing their experience of working with the children, the escorts working at the Eleonas Accommodation Centre wrote to IOM stating that “there were children running barefoot, shoes in hand after the prayer, so they would not miss their school bus. Children wanted to stay at school even after the end of their courses.”

Of the 2,500 migrant and refugee children now going to school in Greece, more than 1,000 children from 11 additional accommodation facilities on the Greek mainland have joined the schooling system since the start of 2017.  Thousands more are following informal courses in camps and urban settings.

“Four months ago, we were facing the alarming reality that thousands of migrant and refugee children in Greece were not attending school, compounding the hardships they have had to face.  Today, it is very heartwarming to see a much more positive picture as the number of children who attend school is now into the thousands and continues to grow,” said IOM Director General William Lacy Swing. 

“We greatly appreciate the support from the EU and our partners in Greece and look forward to ensuring that all migrant and refugee children are in school and we can continue providing this crucial support,” Ambassador Swing added. 

“Following the adoption of a new legal framework by the Greek Parliament in August 2016, access to education for refugee children of school-going age has improved significantly. The European Commission is helping the Greek authorities carry out this fundamental task by co-financing the transport of children to schools and the distribution of school kits with a total of €2.8 million in EU Emergency Support,” said Christos Stylianides, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management.

“This comes on top of our support to informal education activities for over 9000 refugee children in Greece,” added Commissioner Stylianides.

The reaction from the parents has been very positive and many have expressed great relief that their children are back in school.

“I am very happy for my children because education is very important,” says Hiyfat who fled Aleppo together with her husband and her three children a year ago.

Her 10-year-old daughter, Sara, adds: “I went to school in Syria for almost a year. I love that I’m starting again. I would like to study English, to learn every language in the world! It would be nice to do some drawing and to make new friends too.”

Funded with EU Emergency Support, the programme is part of the Multi-sectoral Assistance to and Protection of Migrants and Refugees Stranded in Greece programme.

For more migrant stories from Greece, please go to: https://goo.gl/MhHD7J

For further information, please contact Christine Nikolaidou at IOM Greece, Tel. +30 210-9919040 ext 248, Email: cnikolaidou@iom.int or Ioannis Baveas, Email: ibaveas@iom.int or iomathenspi2@iom.int

At the European Commission spokesperson's service, please contact Carlos Martin Ruiz de Gordujela, Tel. +3222965322,

Email: carlos.martin-ruiz-de-gordejuela@ec.europa.eu

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