Additional Barriers in Accessing Education
In addition to financial barriers, refugees also face a number of social challenges in accessing education. In 2011, the Daily Star reported findings from the World Bank that only “42% of public school teachers hold a specialized degree, and less than half hold a university level qualification” (Alameddine, 2011). Another “weakness in refugee camps can be the lack of trained, qualified and experienced teachers. Their only qualifications are motivation and commitment. A major job of UNHCR and NGO partners is to help refugees improve the quality of volunteer teachers by filling in gaps in their education and providing them with appropriate in-service training” (3RP Report). Students have to be guided and taught by trained professionals in order to adequately learn the material, but also have necessary programs in place to help students who need extra tutoring sessions, or a specialized approach (i.e. students with disabilities). There’s another layer involving refugee students because they require a different approach in the classroom. Refugee students are coming from traumatizing backgrounds, having experienced war and unspeakable hardships on their journeys. Their minds are not in the same learning space as another student who may have grown up specifically in Lebanon, or did not experience any traumatic background (not to say that Lebanese children are exempt from traumatic experiences).
UNRWA, UNHCR, and many other organizations are partnering together to develop programs that will help train teachers. Through managing refugee teachers, UNHCR hopes to provide access to education for refugee children, safety and protection for refugee children, learning for refugee children, and professional skills for refugee teachers. Many refugee teachers are volunteers and “in situations that necessitate the recruitment of unqualified, inexperienced refugee teachers, commitment to building teachers’ capacity to keep children safe and help them learn in school is critical” (UNHCR). Proper development of teacher managing programs should be in partnership with other organizations, especially within the country to ensure perpetuity and continual development of programs in the country.
Language
Imagine being uprooted right now from your seat and transported directly into a classroom where no one speaks your language. The books, the assignments, and readings are all literally foreign. How would you be expected to learn when you don’t even know what the teacher is saying or what you are reading. Many refugees’ children struggle with the language barrier in school causing them to fail their assignments and eventually drop out. “In Syria, teaching is exclusively in Arabic, while in Lebanon –depending on the school—some courses are taught in English or French. This is a particular problem for older children and those who have missed a few years of school due to displacement” (Al Monitor). A foreign language barrier affects anyone, regardless of class, ethnicity, background-so the added pressure of this barrier is extremely damaging with the learning ability and retention of refugee students. Many organizations have suggested teaching in either French or English.
However, the caveat in teaching in any other language that’s not a refugee’s national language, for instance Arabic, would be the loss of the Syrian identity. If they were to ever return to their homeland, there’s a chance they would forget Arabic, and the education they received during their time in Lebanon as a refugee would vary greatly in terms of material learned (such as history) in contrast to their traditional education in Syria.
Bullying
School is meant to be a safe place for children. However, for refugee children in Lebanon, that is not always the case and a large amount experience bullying is one form or another. These issues “can range from verbal harassment or neglect by pupils and staff to corporal punishment and physical mistreatment” (REACH). Cases of bullying occur from both teachers, who are either mean-spirited or stressed from not being able to adequately handle refugee students that have suffered psychological trauma, or from their peers in the classroom. This mistreatment causes even further mental and physical damage, lowering self-esteem, and eventually adds to the list of causes that influence refugee children to drop out. While organizations such as UNICEF and UNESCO try to monitor treatment of students in class, the majority of cases goes unreported and is thus difficult to address and keep track of. For instance, “parents are often reluctant to report cases, wanting to keep a low profile in a foreign country” (UNHCR). After risking everything to flee a war zone and make it safely to another country, it is understandable why families are cautious to bring any attention to themselves. However, if the issues are not brought forward, it will be difficult to ever correct the mistreatment of students in the classroom and it will continue to affect refugee students’ ability to remain in school.
