A 12-year old asylum seeker from Afghanistan, who lives on Chios, in the Reception and Identification Center (RIC) of Greece. There the class is taught Greek, Math and English and kids are in the courtyard during breaks, just like their peers.
This center is operating since February, 2018. The education programme has a coordinator, METAdrasi, supported by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency and co-funded by Education Cannot Wait. The coordinator provides learning materials like school bags, notebooks and pencils.
Their goal is to prepare kids for public school and to teach kids the rules and the rights they have and also obligations.
Action for Education, a volunteer-based organization preparing non formal education activities on Chios is also collaborating with METadrasi.
Kids and teens have opportunity to attend:
- lessons on basic subjects
- sessions on chemistry
- vocational training
- environmental classes
- educational visits to cultural sites, museums
Some classes, like those at Vial camp are hold now as distance learning programs and children are provided with workbooks and have to complete workbooks each week.
Learning for refugee kids brings normality into their lives, it helps them to become their best possible selves and to fill in the gap, so that one day they can attend normal schools.