CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2010
| Author | Skracic, Izidora |
|---|---|
| Title | The Forgotten Right: Education of Refugee Children in Hungary's Refugee Centers |
| Summary | Although European Union directives call for same or similar access to education as nationals, currently there exists no effective implementation of education for refugee children in Hungary. While some refugee children currently attend school or other educational programs, most children living in Hungarian refugee centers are not engaged in any educational activity. This is alarming because education performs a multiplicity of functions for refugee children: (a) education; (b) integration; (c) socialization; (d) emotional support; (e) sense of normalcy. Refugee children who do not go to school forego all of the above. Although the government has instituted a number of financial measures meant to facilitate the admission of refugee children to local school, this has not translated into success. The current difficulties in accessing compulsory education by refugee children are analyzed in the thesis, and analysis results indicate that xenophobic attitudes of the local population and lack of political resolve are the primary culprits. Locals are resistant to the integration of refugee children in classrooms, schools do nothing to counter this resistance, while the government establishes policy after policy without following through with implementation. A number of measures can be taken to facilitate the entry of refugee children into mainstream education. Some of the recommendations address the problem of xenophobia and the lack of political resolve, while others do not. The goal of presenting a variety of measures is to demonstrate that the implementation of refugee education can be facilitated by various simultaneous means, and that political resolve, while important, can be circumvented with NGO activities and adequate resources. Rather than an instant solution, the recommendations should be seen as a first step in integration and in improving the educational situation of refugee children living in Hungary’s reception centers. |
| Supervisor | Ambrus, Agnes |
| Department | Legal Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2010/skracic_izidora.pdf |
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