No school for many Venezuelan migrant children

OVER three years after this country's government granted legal protection for Venezuelan migrants fleeing political oppression and economic hardship in their home country, there is still a major challenge in getting migrant children into the local school system.

On June 6, 2019, at a post-Cabinet press conference, the Prime Minister said Government could not prevent Catholic schools from educating the children of Venezuelan migrants.

Since then, more than 1,500 Venezuelan children have been studying under the Equal Place programme – a joint effort by the UN Refugee Agency, UNICEF, Living Water Community and TTVSOLNET (TT Venezuela Solidarity Network).

In December that year, speaking at a press conference, Archbishop Jason Gordon said among the top priorities of the church was enrolling immigrant children in schools.

He said then, “The ministers of Education, National Security and myself have met and worked to make this happen. The PM has said the Catholic Church will educate immigrant children and we have been struggling with very little time and resources to catch up on this."

According to data from the Equal Place online platform, 1,177 children are enrolled in the primary education programme and 485, in the secondary programme, as of June 30. However, many migrant children are still not placed in schools in TT.

Among the asylum-seekers and refugees registered with the UNHCR, there are 4,000 children between the ages of five and 17 or 18 per cent of the 19,648 Venezuelans requesting refuge or asylum in TT, as of July 31.

According to R4V – a regional co-ordination platform set up in response to the Venezuela situation, there are an estimated 6,900 children in TT who need education support as part of the Refugee and Migrant Response Plan (RMRP).

The data managed by the R4V reports 2,900 more than the UNHCR's reported 4,000, since it includes the numbers managed by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Opposition leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar is on record as calling for migrant children to be given places in government schools. She said every child has a right to education.

She said TT citizens who migrate, expect their children to be enrolled in schools in the countries they go to, and the same courtesy should be extended to migrant children, especially those who have come here from Venezuela.

"You accepted them, you gave them licence to stay in TT," she told the prime minister.

Yermaris Almeida told Newsday she agrees with Persad-Bissessar's position but asked that the plight of migrant children not be politicised.

“Venezuelan migrants are not here by choice, but by obligation. Our children are human beings who deserve respect and the same opportunities for education, food and health as any other child in the world,” she said.

Almeida said many Venezuelan families here are being separated because of the lack of schools for their children.

Venezuelan families here are making the decision to send mothers with their children back home so they can study. The fathers remain in TT to continue working in order to send money to loved ones back in Venezuela.

“All I know is that the Equal Place programme was to prepare our children to enter Catholic schools here, but it's been three years and we have no news and no hope,” Almeida added.