Three2Six project and Sacred Heart College hosted a roundtable discussion on migrant education and the right to education on March 23 at the school.
The aim of the discussion was to look at how the issues of education for migrant children can be addressed.
Section 29(1) of the Constitution provides that everyone has the right to a basic education.
Anne Skelton, from the Centre for Child Law, said the law is contradicting itself because it’s not addressing the issues of migrants and refugee children accessing education.
“Migrant children are still facing challenges in mainstream schools and it’s because of documentation. That has to change because a child has a right to education as long as they live in South Africa,” said Skelton.
Director of Three2Six Refugee children’s education project, Colin Northmore, said every child deserves an education.
“Three2Six is not rocket science but the project uses the resources we have. We have free classrooms and we use them to allow the children to get an education. Every child deserves a childhood and that includes going to school.
“If we have the resources we should use them to help. If we can’t protect the rights of the weak, we are failing,” said Northmore.
He said Three2Six is doing what they can to address the problem, but more still needs to be done.
Also read: Three2Six counting down to 10th anniversary
Musa Emmanuel, from the migrant community, shared a video that shows the reason why people leave their countries to come to South Africa for a better life.
“If you want to control a country, destroy education and that is what our leaders are doing. Our children were attending schools but because of the situation, we left to save them. Children don’t understand. They just want to go to school,” said Musa.
He said to obtain documents there are many challenges they face and barriers that lead to migrants giving up in obtaining documentation.
“Without the documents, migrants end up living in fear. It becomes difficult to register for school without identity documents and that can lead to extreme poverty,” said Musa.
He said projects like Three2Six are making a difference and touching lives.
“They don’t only educate the children but also offer assistance where its needed by attending to the basic needs of a child and advising parents,” said Musa.
Co-ordinator Justine Kimbala is one of the migrant teachers who has benefitted from the Three2Six project.
She started with the project in 2008 and has been growing the project.
“I’m a qualified teacher and when I started with the project I was teaching Grade R learners and continued to grow. I’m currently the co-ordinator for the Three2Six project of Holy Family in Parktown North.“
She said she is grateful for the project because it has given her a job.
“The project has created work for migrant teachers and provided a place for the children to learn and be children and that is a wonderful feeling,” said Justine.
Three2Six children’s refugee education project will be celebrating its 10-year anniversary on April 7.
The Three2Six project started in 2008. The aim of the project is to offer hope to refugee children.
The programme offers academic and social bridging into the South African schooling system and also aims to offer protective factors that can build resilience and reduce vulnerability.
The programme offers interim primary school education from Grade R to Grade Six for children who have been refused access to state schools.
The Three2Six project makes use of unused classrooms when the normal school day has ended – hence the name of the project, which refers to the time when the project operates, namely from 3pm to 6pm.
The project offers maths, English and life skills classes to prepare children to move into a government school.
