Presevo – Teaching of an informal type has been organized for 7 to 15 year old migrant children who are staying at the Reception Center in Presevo.  Several international organizations work with the children who are though by their countrymen. There are no unexcused absences from classes or school grades, while attendance is voluntary and the classrooms are full.

During a class in biology, Farida Barezgaj, a teacher with a thirty years’ long experience gained in Afghanistan, talks with her students and shows them slides and pictures. They are interested in the lessons, focused and willing to learn.

“While I was teaching in Afghanistan, my students were thinking mostly about bombs and the conflict, so that they could not devote themselves to lessons. The environment here is quiet, so that they follow the lessons carefully and it means a lot to them,” Farida said.

They are instructed in their mother tongue, but there are increasingly more of them who are interested in being thought in English. The interpreters are there, too, to help them and to learn something new themselves.  

“I am pleased that I am going to school, while I like classes in English and math the most, since I want to become an engineer,” says Bilal Nasrat from Afghanistan.   

“I come here every day to interpret and to help those who need help. I began to study back in Iraq, but I had to discontinue doing it,” said Mulan Idriz from Iraq. 

International organizations have their target groups, so that the "Save the Children" organization and the Center for Youth Integration were entrusted with teenagers. Every other student in the class is parentless and arrived here alone.  

Jelena Marinkovic from the Center for Youth Integration notes that students’ achievements are measured in an interactive way, through tests, quizzes and the activities that are not typical for regular classes.

Since the official closing of the Balkan route, migrants have been staying in Serbia longer, while some of them have been at the reception centers for several months.

“There are cases of 10 or 11 year old children who never attended school. We want to help them return to normal life, "says Milenko Nikic, Advisor at the Ministry of Labor and Employment.  

The school is open in the morning on every workday. During the classes, the reception center, where over eight hundred people are staying, seems empty, and while the kids are at school, the adults attend various workshops or training courses.

Source: Radio and Television of Serbia and Coordination Body