The overall aim of the Education for Children Programme is to encourage refugees and asylum seeker children of school going age to attend school by providing families, parents and guardians with information concerning the education system is South Africa, and to provide financial assistance for school fees and other related costs.
Annually almost 2,000 refugee learners are enrolled in school levels ranging from pre-primary, primary to secondary levels. These learners were assisted with one of the various forms of assistance offered by CTRC -school fees, uniforms and stationery, and transport, while others were assisted with applying for school fees exemptions.
The Centre is anticipating a huge number of refugee/asylum seeker children in South Africa as a result of ongoing conflict throughout the continent. Most of the children who are coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Somalia, Rwanda and Zimbabwe are trying to join their families here in South Africa. In recent months, the CTRC has noticed an increase in the number of unaccompanied minors(UAM) and children separated from their parents in the Cape Town region. Thus, an increase in the education budget is necessary in order to meet the basic educational needs and rights of refugee and asylum seekers children.
It is also essential for the CTRC, other refugee organisations, and community members to continue informing teachers, parents, and the larger Cape Town community of the situations facing refugee and asylum seeker children.
The Cape Town Refugee Centre also runs a very successful French Language Programme. The Department of Education in South African requires learners to take at least two languages, of which one must be a first language. South African learners take Afrikaans or Xhosa as their second language. The Centre noticed that refugee learners were struggling to grasp these two required languages, thus the French Language Programme was developed. The aim of the programme is to teach French speaking refugee and asylum seeker learners French in order to satisfy their second language requirement.
The French Language Program takes place at Maitland High School where the majority of refugee and asylum seeker high school learners go attend school. The programme has produced impressive results, as demonstrated by the sudden increase in the number of learner distinctions since the start of the program. Due to scarcity of resources, the programme can only encompass grades 10 to 12.
CTRC is currently looking to increase its budget for the French Language Programme so that grades 8 and 9 can be included in the programme. In addition, the programme hopes to expand its services to other areas to increase benefits to refugee and asylum seeker learners.
The education programme also run workshops and information sessions with groups at various schools to inform the learners both refugees and local learners about various issues like:-
- Who are refugees and why they are in South Africa
- Refugee rights in South Africa
- Human rights
- What is xenophobia and the reasons that cause xenophobia in South Africa.
- Girls and boys are teached about woman rights
- HIV and sexual transmittal diseases
We are also lobbying for refugee learners rights and information sharing to educaters and parents on the rights of refugee learners to access education in South Africa
We are currently looking into developing a Parents Committee, a community-based initiative, in order to create a network of support for refugee and asylum seeker learners and their parents. The committee will serve as a platform for parents to fully participate in the improvement of their children's education. Parents will be educated about their rights as refugees/asylum seekers, as well as the rights and responsibilities of their children.
The committee will also be responsible for community outreach and information sessions within the refugee community, addressing issues such as the right to education, various forms of financial assistance (e.g. school fees exemptions), and other important information that related to the education of their children. The Education Officer, along with the Parents Committee, will perform visits to local schools to give presentations to children and to educate teachers about refugee issues.
- Education Programme Information Giude
