27/04/2018 Session
PACE has urged Council of Europe member States to provide free schooling for all migrant children, in line with their international undertakings, and to treat them in the same way as other children for educational purposes.
“Education is a powerful tool for integration of migrants and refugees and for the empowerment of young people destabilised by situations for which they are not responsible,” the Assembly declared in a resolution adopted on the basis of a report by Petra De Sutter (Netherlands, SOC).
Schools could be sanctuaries in conflict regions, the Assembly pointed out, while schooling migrant children in mainstream classes provided continuity, promoted individual well-being and social stability as well as favouring future integration.
PACE encouraged schools to set up “firewalls” between their IT systems and those of the immigration authorities to protect the data of migrants in irregular situations, in order to avoid its misuse to deny or complicate schooling for migrant children.