The vast majority of refugees in Indonesia face bleak futures. Fleeing violence in war-torn homelands, most of them got stuck in Indonesia while attempting to make it to other countries like Australia. Most have been told they have very little hope of being resettled anytime soon (if ever) and, in Indonesia, they lack basic rights like the ability to work or get an education, leaving them in a state of limbo.
But for at least some refugee children in Indonesia, there is hope. On top of the volunteer learning centers set up by refugees in several areas to give their children basic educations, the local governments in some parts of Indonesia have made agreements with the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration (IOM) to allow limited numbers of refugee students into their public school system.
One of those cities is Medan, the capital city of North Sumatra. On Monday, the IOM and Medan’s Department of Education signed a Memorandum of Understanding allowing 297 refugee children to enter the local public-school system.
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According to an IOM press release, Medan currently hosts 2,226 refugees and asylum seekers, the largest migrant population in any single location in Indonesia. The children entering the local schools come from nearly two dozen different countries including Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, and Myanmar.
As the release notes, “For many, this will be their first day at a formal school since leaving their home countries. For some, it will be the first time ever.”
Some of the students will be able to enter the school system immediately while others will be phased in over the next 3-6 months after attending Indonesian language classes introduced by IOM.
“As human beings, we are very concerned for the refugees, especially for these school-aged children,” Hasan Basri, the head of Medan’s Department of Education, is quoted as saying in the IOM release. “My department will give its full support towards ensuring that they are able to pursue their education.”
Besides Medan, IOM has also made agreements for refugee children to enter public schools in several other cities. The UN agency secured 56 openings for migrants kids in schools around Jakarta and 60 for kids in Makassar.
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The IOM video below shows three children from an Afghan family preparing for their first day of school in Tangerang. They are part of the 63 migrant children that have been given spots in five different schools located in the satellite city of Jakarta.
It’s awesome that the Indonesian government has allowed these children to enter their schools, but obviously it’s not enough to meet the education needs of all of the refugees in Indonesia. As the IOM release notes, “The migrants themselves continue to play an essential role in providing education to both children and adults. Last month in Pekanbaru, 650 kilometres south of Medan, migrants inaugurated a volunteer-driven youth learning centre that will serve as a coordination hub for educational and cultural activities, including those aimed at helping the host community. The centre emulates a similar one set up in Medan last year that also empowers migrants to help themselves and their hosts.”
