PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad – The United Nations says it hopes that many Venezuelan children like 11-year-old refugee, Astrid Saavedra, will be able to walk into classrooms in Trinidad and Tobago to start the 2025-2026 academic year.
Young Venezuelan refugees get a fresh start in education in Trinidad and Tobago (UN Photo)A committee of UN agencies and partners, the Education Working Group (EWG), is working with the Trinidad and Tobago government to better understand the training and logistical support that would be required to accommodate larger numbers of refugee and migrant children into local schools.
It notes that over 2,000 refugee and migrant children remain excluded from the school system. The UN said it has made efforts to provide them with alternative learning opportunities, or to place them in private schools but has expressed a preference for wider admission to the state school system.
“Advocating for access to education is key to bridging the gap between immediate humanitarian needs and long-term development goals,” said Amanda Solano, head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) in Trinidad and Tobago.
“By providing education to refugee and migrant children, we’re not just meeting their immediate needs, we’re investing in their future and the future of Trinidad and Tobago.”
Saavedra walked into her fourth-grade classroom in Trinidad and Tobago in September last year, eager to begin lessons in her favourite subject, mathematics. She is one of the first refugee and migrant children from Venezuela to be allowed to enter the Trinidad and Tobago national public education system, following a change in the country’s immigration rules.
She was part of the first cohort of 60 children to meet the admission criteria, which included possession of a certified, translated birth certificate and immunization record, and be assigned a school, marking an important milestone in fulfilling Trinidad and Tobago’s commitment to fully meeting its obligations under the Convention on the Rights f the Child, an international UN human rights treaty.
“These young people, should they stay in Trinidad and Tobago, would be adequately prepared to enter the workforce of this country, filling gaps in the labour market and contributing to innovation and sustainability,” said senior UN migration agency (IOM) official, Desery Jordan-Whiskey.
“It’s also an opportunity for these children, who are mostly Spanish speaking, to contribute just as much as they would gain, by helping their peers learn a second language,” Jordan-Whiskey added.
The UN said that the changes in legislation that allowed children like Astrid to go to school came about in July 2023, during a meeting of UN officials and politicians, at which Trinidad and Tobago’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Amery Browne officially announced the gGovernment’s decision.
UN agencies agree that the right to receive an education is an example of the way human rights overlaps with sustainable development and the hope is that many more students like Astrid will be able to walk into the nation’s classrooms to start the 2025-2026 academic year.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and UNHCR work with partners to offer informal Child-Friendly Spaces, where children can access learning while they wait for places in the national school system.
In addition, the Education Working Group (EWG) is assisting with initial English language proficiency testing, facilitated by the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) in collaboration with the University of the West Indies (UWI).
Through the Heroes Development Programme, PADF and its partner the Heroes Foundation also provide complementary life skills development and alternative education support for children and youth who are unable to access formal schools in Trinidad and Tobago.
