Why this campaign is important to me
By Imogen, 16
Education is something that many young people, including me, probably take for granted in England. It is the reason that many evenings are spent trying to understand some horrible maths question or writing an English essay when most other things I could possibly be doing are more appealing. But not having any education is much less appealing than any essay, for me at least.
Many refugee and asylum seeking children arrive in England, having fled terror in their home countries, in the hope of safety and security. Yet many children we spoke to had to wait at least 6 months before beginning education, often because their age was disputed or their asylum status had not been finalised. Children have extra rights in the UNCRC above the Universal Declaration of Human Rights because they are particularly vulnerable, and our government agreed, by ratifying the Convention, to uphold these.
Education, as several young people we spoke to commented, offers a chance for success in the future, but also gives you stability and friends. Education, especially in a foreign country, is important: how can you go to the doctors’ or be able to shop independently if you don’t know the language of the country you are in?
Yet many refugee and asylum seeking children receive little or no education – one hour of English language one hour a week could never be enough and neither is it reasonable to force children to take specific ‘lower’ subjects because of their refugee status, as was the case with a few young people we interviewed.
So, I guess for me, our campaign for an excellent education for all refugee and asylum seeking children is important because education should enable these children to really feel comfortable and stable in England, when stability is probably the most important thing to have. Also, education really is every child’s right and to deny this, whether fully or in part, to specific children purely on grounds of their immigration status is entirely unfair.
Lastly, I guess on a more personal note, refugee and asylum seeking children’s rights are important to me because as the granddaughter of refugees, one of whom came as a teenage girl, I want to work to ensure that all refugee and asylum seeking children are given the chance, their right, which my grandmother didn’t have, of having a childhood, and education is an important part of this.
This article Why this campaign is important to me, was posted on Thursday, September 24, 2009 by Sam Dimmock
