Latest update November 26th, 2024 1:00 AM
Over 600 Venezuelan migrant children accepted into school system
Six hundred and seventy migrant children have been accepted in the formal school system in Guyana, owing to the large influx of Venezuelans and Guyanese returning from the Bolivarian Republic stricken by economic turmoil.
The figure accounts for 182 students in Barima Waini (Region One); 110 Pomeroon Supenaam (Region Two); 239 in Essequibo Islands-West Demerara (Region Three), and 29 in Georgetown, according to officials attached to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).
UNICEF has been in full support of efforts by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to meet the needs of migrant and re-migrant children across Guyana.
Officials attached to UNICEF confirmed that the Children’s Fund has been lending financial support for additional school furniture and supply of English/Spanish learning materials for schools in host communities.
UNICEF has been on standby to respond to support other requests from host communities.
UNICEF ‘S country representative, Sylvie Fouet, had reported that there are at least 74 schools in the Region but there are challenges with taking in the children from Venezuela owing to the language barrier.
In this regard, she said UNICEF has reached out to offer support in the form of interpreters to the schools. Fouet said that UNICEF has continually been monitoring the situation in Region One.
A total of 670 migrant children have accepted in the formal school system in Guyana.
To address that, UNICEF and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) have been identifying teachers who are versed in Spanish and Warrau languages to be trained in English to teach the migrant and remigrant children.
“Most of the communities that we have visited were actually absorbing not only children but families, mainly in the Amerindian areas,” she said.
The UNICEF country representative said too that emphasis is being placed on water and sanitation.
She noted that the country office will be offering much needed support to the Social Worker Network.
Thousands of migrants have been fleeing from the troubled country, making their way into border areas of Region One, sparking action from the authorities to provide supplies and other forms of support.
Last year, the Civil Defence Commission (CDC) and UNICEF joined forces to address the issue of the increasing number of Venezuelans coming into Guyana.
The relief supplies, which include shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene are being procured within Guyana to the value of US$30,000.
The CDC has disclosed that it will deploy the relief supplies within the coming weeks to the regional administrations for storage and distribution. The supplies will target an estimated 60 families per region with the total number of persons benefitting estimated at 900.
Minister of Citizenship, Winston Felix, had noted plans are in motion for the establishment of a homestead settlement area for the 260 confirmed Venezuelans, who are occupying areas in Barima-Waini (Region One).
Minister Felix said that the resettlement area will allow the Venezuelans to be self-reliant.
“It is intended that we [will] develop something like a homestead where families are accumulated and eventually we can move them into cash crop farming. We can encourage them so that in the first instance, they can feed themselves, and if they have surpluses, they can sell.
“We are looking at crops for their sustenance and their immediate needs. Once you get that going, then the next thing is to guide them into areas in which they can sustain themselves.
“The immediate outcome is that we want to see them properly settled and they must be able to sustain themselves…,” he said.
Rather than criminalise the Venezuelans, Minister Felix had said that the Committee and by extension, the Government, has chosen to respond to the situation in a humane manner, with concern for the safety, health, and accommodation of the migrants.
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