Teacher unions focus on plight of refugee children’s education

From Europe to the United States, teacher unions are urging their governments to both welcome more refugees and to ensure that schools open their doors to make quality education available to refugee children.

The latest UNICEF education report reveals that the conflict in Syria has forced 52,000 teachers to flee and has left 2.4 million children with no access to schools. In response to these staggering figures, affiliate unions of Education International (EI) are speaking up and taking action see that governments accomplish their responsibilities and open their borders and schools to refugees.
In an open letter to its prime minister, the Polish teachers’ union ZNP called on the government to not only open classrooms to refugee children, where they face the possibility of culture shock, stereotypes and exposure to a new language, but to work closely with the parents in order to create positive and safe quality learning environments.