The European Commission has announced that around 30,000 refugees from Ukraine have so far been registered with the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil) in Belgium.
In a statement released May 13, the Commission also noted that more than 40 percent of these refugees are minors and another 37 percent are of school age, according to SchengenVisaInfo.com.
“To ensure the integration of these children into the education system, a number of measures are being taken across the country,” the statement said.
In addition, Flanders Minister of Education Ben Veyts said that Flanders has the necessary funds to quickly provide mobile units (“container” classes) and, at the same time, to increase the capacity of schools to accommodate the children of newly arrived refugees from Ukraine.
“To facilitate the school integration of these children, there is an OKAN system (education at the admission level for non-native children), and the Pupil Orientation Center provides them with psychological support,” Minister Veits also said.
According to Veits, to overcome the shortage of teachers for these children, Ukrainians who already live in Flanders and speak Dutch should be hired.
At the same time, the Flemish government allocates additional resources to the schools hosting these refugee children, thus covering the cost of each temporary module created to develop and support their learning.
Flanders is currently working with the Ministry of Education of Ukraine to ensure successful education in Ukrainian for refugees.
In this regard, the Minister of Education of the Francophone community, Caroline Désir, said that the DASPA system (the system for the reception and education of newcomers and assimilated students) is adapting to cope with the huge increase in the number of newcomers during the school year.
In the meantime, schools facing a similar problem of extreme growth may ask for a new DASPA or require additional staff if they have already established a DASPA.
There are also many learning resources available to help teachers discuss the war in Ukraine with their students.
Minister Desir did not overlook the important role of psycho-medical-social community centers that help support children traumatized by the war. In addition, as Belgium is experiencing a shortage of teachers, it is also considering accepting Ukrainian refugees to replenish its teaching staff. The data show that about 1,000 Ukrainian children study in one of the schools in Wallonia or Brussels.