A low number of Ukrainian children enrolled as students or listeners in Romanian schools, out of a significantly higher number of children refugees in the country, is one of the key challenges listed in a recent report on the humanitarian assistance Romania has provided to Ukrainian refugees. The report presented late last week lists a series of “challenges and lessons learnt”, but says little in terms of possible solutions to those challenges.
In a segment talking about education issues, the document presents a series of measures taken by Romanian authorities, including some which are seen as key by international bodies who have experience in dealing with refugees. But the main issue depicted as main cause for the low number of Ukrainian children enrolled in Romanian schools remains an utterance without clearly identified solutions.
The report on Romania’s efforts and accomplishments in assisting Ukrainian refugees, Published by the Government on Friday, mentions a significant number of Ukrainian children in Romania by January 2023: 47,851, almost half of the total 107,241 refugees currently in the country. The figures, while significant, signal that a majority of Ukrainians who come to Romania opt to leave to another country, considering that the more than 3.2 million arrivals at the border were reported.
In order to support these refugees, the Government reports a considerable volume of governmental and non-governmental efforts: 6 sector working groups, more than 20 pieces of legislation passed, more than 300 NGOs involved in the efforts and a financial involvement evaluated at 565 million euro.
In January 2023, the Government talks of an increasing number of border arrivals due to the energy-related and winter conditions in Ukraine and its short term measures focus on securing the capacity of receiving new refugees. Challenges related to school become secondary in these circumstances.
What the Government says it has done in terms of education for Ukraine refugees
According to the report, the Government in Bucharest continues to adopt or apply measures to allow Ukrainian children continue their schools studies in Romania. The main issue named in the report is that Ukraine authorities do not recognise studies in Romania. The Romanian government does not state any clear solution taken into consideration when it comes to this.
The report, instead, describes efforts to solve another problem that of the language barrier.
The document says the Government, “together with its partners, continues to take measures to ensure the continuation of studies and to support learning for Ukrainian refugees. To facilitate the enrolment of Ukrainian children into the Romanian educational system, additional human resources are provided by employing more Romanian and Ukrainian teachers, as well as providing the necessary material resources and allowances for food, school supplies, and clothing.”
It also notes training provided to teachers “to give intensive preparatory Romanian language courses for Ukrainian children.” It says “trainings are also provided on inclusive education, psycho-social support, and communication with Ukrainian parents to facilitate integration and to provide psycho-pedagogical assistance and counselling.”
It also mentions that refugees receive information on how to access the education system in the country or the online education platform provided by the Government of Ukraine. Additionally, support is provided in terms of learning materials, recreational kits and extracurricular activities.
Key figures:
- Less than 4,000 Ukrainian children are registered as listeners or enrolled to study in Romanian schools at the moment: 3,087 listeners, of which about a third are preschoolers, and 882 enrolled in school (of which 288 preschoolers and 594 students).
- 4,060 de children and youth attend catch up programs or extracurricular activities including language courses
- 6,516 children and youth received recreational and learning materials
- 262 educators were trained on quality, safe and inclusive education
Looking forward: Education – first among challenges identified by the Government
The Chapter discussing the measures taken into consideration for the upcoming period does not mention any possible solution for the fact that a very low number of the Ukrainian children refugees in Romania are participating in school life in the communities they are living in.
And the chapter discussing “challenges and lessons learnt” presents mostly challenges. Thus:
The first listed challenge is enrolling children in schools: “This is in part due to the lack of recognition of the studies in Romania by Ukrainian authorities, and the language barrier despite substantial investments to help alleviate this in Romanian schools and through the support of international partners. The official approach of the Government is to discourage further development of “educational hubs”, where no formal education services and curriculum are provided.”
The other major challenges identified in the government report:
- Support for the elderly and persons with disabilities: the report says identifying vulnerable persons is not “robust” as “the services are not yet sufficiently developed within our national protection system.”
- Access to labor market: “the propensity to join the labor market by Ukrainian refugees is generally low for many reasons, including lack of acceptance that the conflict may be prolonged, low uptake of available Romanian language and entrepreneurship courses, and limited community outreach to promote job opportunities.”
- Short-Term Accommodation: “A significant number of refugees continue to live in short-term accommodation “centers” which prevents their integration into the community, despite the available accommodation and food program made possible by Government Ordinance.”
The report says the government works with all its partners to deal with these challenges and that strategies were developed at legislative level, along with targeted action plans, but there are no details in these regard.
Reference point: lessons learnt in Germany when it comes to refugees
In November 2022, Edupedu.ro presented as part of EduCare – a project run in partnership with Fundatia Bosch Romania – Germany’s Lessons Learned With Refugee Arrival and Integration: Possible Take Aways for Romania? As part of that article, whose authors stated clearly their findings that there were no one-size-fits all solutions that can be transferred from one country to another, the general lessons learnt by Germany in terms of welcoming refugees were presented.
In its own report, the Romanian Government signals that it considers the same issues as Germany’s “lessons learnt” when it talks about refugees, but with a key difference: a limited level of adaptability.
On one hand, the government applies, for example by the very report issued last week, the notion of authorities needing to send clear signals to the population on the situation of refugees, the first of the listed lessons in the case of Germany.
- On the other hand, when it comes to education, while it took measures to adapt schools and provided training to teachers so that they cope with the necessities of receiving refugee students – another key German “lesson learnt” – the level of inclusion of refugee children in Romanian schools remains very low. And the main problem remains unsolved. Additionally, Romanian language courses are provided systematically, but the language barrier remains significant according to the Government report.
And the Government presents measures it has already taken or expected short-term measures – see for example the preparations for a potential new wave of refugees in winter time. But it does not provide a strong long-term action plan when it comes to communities of refugees. And access to labor market – another key element in the case of Germany – remains a problem without clear, strong measures aimed at solving it.