Let the children go...to school

The Federal conference of the Australian Education Union (AEU) has 
called for children in immigrant detention camps to be allowed to go to 
Australian schools.

AEU Federal Secretary Rob Durbridge said: "the denial of educational 
provision to these children highlights the injustice of current government 
policy and constitutes a violation of their human rights".

The AEU called on the government to release detained children into the 
community to live with their parents until their refugee status is 
resolved.

"The denial of educational opportunities for the 1100 children held in 
detention in Australia last year is a blot on our national reputation", 
said Mr Durbridge.

"We would welcome these children into the multicultural educational 
environment which our public schools and colleges provide", said Mr 
Durbridge.

"Media publicity has suggested that the children in Woomera are attending 
school. This is misleading. The 'school' the children are being sent to is 
in fact a closed Catholic school apparently now operated by the Immigration 
Department", Mr Durbridge said.

"There appears to be no provision for secondary school children at all. "

"The AEU calls on education departments, state and federal, to provide 
resources to schools so they may accommodate the refugee children in a 
supportive educational environment and deal effectively with the 
extraordinary problems faced by them", Mr Durbridge said.

"The AEU will seek to make links between refugees and local public schools 
and colleges so that programs can be provided and children and their 
parents can be supported while they live in the community peacefully with 
their families".

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Education, Journal of the NSW Teachers Federation