Switzerland is preparing to accept more than 5,000 refugees from Ukraine, many of whom are children who will need to be given the opportunity to somehow continue their school education. Children will have to continue the usual learning process, this is very important for the psyche.
So far, three refugee children have already started attending school in the town of Eschlikon, canton of Thurgau, after their family was able to find shelter with relatives. The school had only three days to prepare for the children's arrival. School director Thomas Minder spoke about this in an interview with Swiss public (non-state) television SRF External link. “We had to accept families, conduct interviews, prepare classes,” explained Thomas Minder. Special classes in the German language were also organized for children, which still will not save them from problems at first: no one speaks literary German in Switzerland in everyday life.
According to Thomas Minder, many Swiss schoolchildren reacted with great sympathy to the situation in Ukraine, collecting donations and sincerely wanting to help. “I think that children from Ukraine will be very well received here.” The main issue is that Ukrainian children can attend classes in an adequate and appropriate environment. Swiss schools already have experience accepting children from Syria. “Depending on the number of refugees, different formats can be implemented: if there are many children, a special integration class can be opened. If there are not so many of them, then each of them can be sent to study in regular classes.”
Thomas Minder is also President of the Association of Swiss School Directors (Verband Schulleiterinnen und Schulleiter Schweiz VSLCH). Switzerland is now actively preparing a package of measures to receive Ukrainian refugees who were forced to leave the country after the Russian invasion. On Monday 7 March 2022, the Government (Federal Council) announced that it had made available up to 5,000 places in federal refugee reception centres. Earlier on March 4, the cabinet announced plans to activate a special migration status, the so-called residence permit category S, intended for those who need special protection – this status will allow Ukrainians to live and work in the country for a year, with the possibility of extending this period if necessary. The government will make a final decision on the details today, Friday 11 March.
Currently, there are a total of 1,314 refugees from Ukraine in Switzerland, of which 315 people live privately with relatives and friends, the rest are housed in federal refugee reception and accommodation centers, receiving the necessary help and support. According to Lukas Rieder, spokesman for the Swiss State Secretariat for Migration (SEM, a branch of the Ministry of Justice External link), “if you look at the age categories, you can see that about 40% of refugees are minors, of which 27.3 % are persons aged 0-11 years and 12.7% aged 12-17 years.”
“At the same time, less than 1% of them were registered as UMA (unaccompanied minor asylum seekers or unaccompanied minor asylum seekers), and 68% of all refugees were women,” clarifies Lukas Rieder. Regarding schooling, migration status S allows all school-age children to have access to schools. In the medium term, special measures will also be taken for preschool children. Children placed in federal refugee reception centers also receive the opportunity to study, and after being distributed among the cantons, they will be enrolled in schools in the given federal subject (in Switzerland, education issues are the responsibility of the cantons).
Families who came to Switzerland privately and, for example, stayed with relatives, should contact the local executive authorities in order to find out all the details of the registration procedure at the place of residence. Please note that Switzerland is a federalist country and these procedures may vary between cantons. Many parents of Ukrainian refugees are already using special forums and groups on the Internet to find out how the Swiss education system works, how soon their children will be able to go to school and what problems may arise with learning the language.
“The Swiss government is committed to ensuring that the needs of these children are taken into account to the greatest extent possible. The Federal Council (Cabinet) gave instructions to determine the exact needs in terms of supporting refugees from Ukraine and to formulate a package of measures that should be as targeted as possible, including for school-age children,” sums up Lukas Rieder.
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