School opens doors to refugees

Changing schools can be a traumatising experience, but when you are forced to change schools because your family had to flee their home is even more extreme. One school has opened its doors to refugee children, helping them ease into the South African schooling system. CLAIRE MATHIESON reports.

Since 2008, Sacred Heart College in Observatory, Johannesburg has operated an educational programme for refugee children.

The school, called Three2Six, is a bridging programme for refugee children who have difficulties with registering with South African schools either because the families are unable to pay school fees and other related expenses to get their children into schools or the parents do not have all the documents needed.

“The idea of the Three2Six Project came from the need of the refugee communities around Scared Heart College who, through the Methodist church in Johannesburg, approached the head of the college and asked him to assist their children who were facing various barriers from not having access to schools,” said Katherine, the project’s coordinator (a refugee herself, she asked that her real name not be used).

She said Three2Six strives to provide primary school education to refugee children who have been refused access to state schools, to employ and empower refugee teachers and to do advocacy around refugee issues in the broader community.

Added to difficulties of finance and documentation, many of the children don’t speak English when they arrive in South Africa. After time spent in the Three2Six bridging project, most are accepted into schools when they leave the project.

“We started the project teaching maths, English and life skills but we have extended our learning areas to sports programmes, activities on iPads, the library programme, oral education and a reading programme,” Katherine told The Southern Cross.

 

The programme has yielded positive results. “We have children who have won school sponsorships and have been placed into top public schools,” she said.

As the name suggests, the school runs from 3pm to 6pm and is extended during school holidays where the children have two or three weeks of activities.

“They produced a comic book in 2010, an animated movie in 2011 and last year they produced various pieces of art under the guidance of a number of South African professional artists,” Katherine said.

To assist learners who are struggling academically, Three2Six has added a remedial class to its offerings. The children who attend the remedial class get extra and accelerated help to be able to follow up at the level of their usual grade once they finish the remedial programme.

Apart from the academics, the project provides lunch, uniforms, stationery, transport, medical, social and legal assistance to the children.

Katherine said the project works closely with the Sacred Heart community, where students and parents have always been willing to assist where necessary.

“One of the parents, who is an attorney, always helps with legal issues and another parent who is a doctor assists the Three2Six Children with health issues that the school nurse can’t manage. Sacred Heart parents are involved in the project feeding scheme, sending home parcels of food to the project’s families, apart from the lunch the children receive at school every day,” Katherine said.

The school currently has 140 children from age six to 13.

“The project is a bridging programme. It does not intend to keep the children more than two years. Once the child is ready to shift to the mainstream programme, parents are encouraged to register the child into a normal school,” Katherine explained.

“We assist the children to get the first pack of uniform and stationery in order to have a start at their new school. Some children do not manage to leave the project before they complete grade 6,” she said.

But it’s not only the children that benefit from the programme. Three2Six employs seven teachers and one coordinator who is assisted by a volunteer worker.

All of the Three2Six staff are refugees. They are mentored in the South African curriculum by the host school and they upgrade their qualifications with Unisa.

“The school is also assisted by Sacred Heart students who offer to do their community service work with us,” Katherine said.

The project is guided, follows and believes in the values espoused by St Marcellin Champagnat—a Catholic ethos that strives to serve those that might otherwise be left out.