Education of International Migrants’ Children: A Contribution to the Sustainable Development?

• Main Author: Elena Aleksandrovna Omelchenko
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (RUDN University) 2019-12-01
• Series: Vestnik RUDN International Relations
• Subjects: international migration; right for education; education of migrants’ children; access to education; adaptation and integration of migrants; sustainable development; educational achievements
• Online Access: http://journals.rudn.ru/international-relations/article/viewFile/21469/17114

Due to the Agenda for Sustainable Development adopted by the UN General Assembly in 2015, the world community is to obtain a quality education and a possibility for life-long education for everybody. Children from the families of international migrants are the most vulnerable category of the population. At the end of 2017 nearly 36 million of school age children grew in the families of international migrants. The author describes problems of the education of migrants’ children in the context of the importance of achieving Sustainable Development Goals, stated by the international community. There is an analysis of the European and Russian experience in the sphere of organizing access of migrants’ children to preschool, primary and secondary education. The author has gathered concrete statistics concerning the percentage of international migrants’ children at schools in different countries. Some approaches to teaching and creating a comfortable integration-oriented environment for such children are described. Based on analyzing Russian and foreign publications, as well as on her own research experience, the author names main problems that prevent international migrants’ children from the integration into a new educational environment. Special attention is paid to the linguistic, social and cultural adaptation of such pupils. The efficiency of several concrete integration practices and the potential to apply them in Russia is searched. The author shows that there are no approaches to diagnose processes and results of integration by means of education. There is also no legislative basis for the regulation of such processes. It is shown that it is crucial for Russia to elaborate and implement the united conceptual approach to the organization of social, cultural, linguistic and psychological adaptation of children from the families of international migrants. The author proves that the education of such children is an important strategic priority and investment into the future of the whole world.