A school outside of Paris has denied enrollment to
more than 20 foreign-born students. Amnesty International and other
rights groups call it a case of cruel xenophobia. Officials from the
town say it’s just a budget problem.
A road sign near a school in France (elPadawan)
*NEWSBITES
LE MONDE/Worldcrunch
PARIS - Denying a basic education
in the country that invented mandatory schooling? Welcome to modern
France! In Rubelles, a small town of 1,900 inhabitants near Paris, more
than 20 foreign-born children aged three to 11 have been refused
enrollment. Critics call it a case of blatant discrimination.
Rights groups, including Amnesty International, the French Human
Rights League and Education without Borders, are up in arms over the
affair. The children in question hail from countries such as Chechnya
and the Republic of Ingushetia, of the former Soviet Union; Sri-Lanka;
and Gabon.
As asylum seekers, these children have already had a difficult path.
They dream about being in school but instead must spend their days in
one of the town’s low-cost hotels. Their parents were denied space in
the local homeless shelter, which is too overcrowded to accommodate
them.
According to Nicole Fautrel of the French Human Rights League, “these
asylum-seeker families did all that was required to send their children
to school, but the town council refused to give them the enrollment
certificate.”
The city’s deputy mayor, Michel Dreano, describes the situation as a
budget problem. “Also, we can’t receive so many non-French speaking
children,” he said, hinting at the absence of qualified staff to handle
the situation.
Nonsense, says Patricia Galeazzi from the local education authority.
“There are places left in the Rubelles school and two specialized
teachers are here to welcome non-French speaking children.” According to
one of the school’s teachers, it’s all the more absurd since “children
of that age learn new languages very easily.”
In the late 19th Century, France is credited with establishing the first system of free and mandatory public education.
Read the full article in French by Mattea Battaglia
Photo - elPadawan
*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations
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