Refugee education as a limbo
By Adnan Turnan | April 10, 2024
Refugee education is a junction point where humanitarian response and long-term development intersect. It brings both opportunities and challenges. On one hand, it offers hope to displaced populations by empowering refugees with the knowledge and skills to rebuild their lives and communities. Education for refugees can break the cycle of poverty and conflict, fostering resilience, promoting integration, preventing early marriages, reducing child labor, and paving the way for a more peaceful future. On the other hand, refugee education comes with some possible consequences like limited resources, overcrowded classrooms, inevitable assimilation, and triggering potential psychological trauma among displaced students. Also, the current paradigm of refugee education violates the social and cultural rights of refugees by adopting a one-size-fits-all approach, failing to respect and integrate the unique cultural identities, languages, and traditions of refugee communities. This blog aims to discuss the nature of refugee education by acknowledging the critical importance of education for refugees while recognizing the complexities and demands of delivering it effectively.
The current refugee education paradigm
A significant shift in the paradigm of refugee education can be observed when comparing the period before and after 2012. Earlier efforts were largely focused on addressing immediate educational needs within camps and settlements, often with limited resources and infrastructure. The emphasis was on primary education, with secondary and tertiary education receiving less attention. UNHCR's current approach to refugee education emphasizes the necessity of ensuring that refugee children and young people have access to quality education. Education is recognized not just as a fundamental human right but as a critical element of the international refugee response, fostering stability, safety, and the ability to rebuild communities. UNHCR collaborates with governments and international organizations to enhance educational opportunities for refugees everywhere, targeting inclusive and quality education for all, in line with the Sustainable Development Goal4.
Refugee education as resilience
According to the UNHCR Education Report of 2023, there are 14 million school-aged refugees and only 49% of them have access to an education system. As students progress through levels of education the schooling rate decreases, dropping to just 6% for higher education. Despite the challenges, effort to accessing to refugee education functions as proof of their resilience and hope. It serves as a tool for empowerment providing refugee children and young adults with a way out of discomfort and into a world of possibilities. Through education, refugees acquire not only academic knowledge but also critical life skills, which are essential for their integration, self-sufficiency, and personal development. This educational engagement helps create a sense of normalcy and stability in their lives. It becomes a shelter where they can heal, thrive, and imagine a possible future. Furthermore, by learning alongside students from host communities, refugee students can overcome barriers of misunderstanding and foster empathy and mutual respect. This positive aspect contributes to a more united and inclusive society at large.
Refugee education as human right issue
The challenges and negative aspects of refugee education, particularly the violation of social and cultural rights, manifest across multiple levels—from global to national, and down to the local level. Globally, issues originate in a lack of a unified approach or comprehensive policy that respects and integrates the diverse cultural identities of refugee populations into educational systems. This negligence leads to a patchwork of responses where the educational needs and rights of refugees are inconsistently addressed, frequently sidelining the importance of preserving cultural heritage. Without a global framework that mandates the inclusion of refugees' social and cultural rights in educational curricula, countries hosting refugees are left to navigate these complexities on their own, resulting in varied outcomes. An example of the challenges outlined above can be seen in the approach of international bodies like the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its current refugee education paradigm. While there is a focus on inclusivity and accessibility, the organization must work within the education systems of host countries, which have their own educational priorities and standards. As a result, despite best efforts at the global level, the lack of a universally adopted framework that explicitly incorporates refugees' social and cultural rights means that the education received by refugees like the Syrians in Turkey can sometimes fail to reflect their cultural heritage, leading to a dilution of identity and a sense of alienation within the educational environment.
At the national level, the case of Syrian refugees in Turkey illustrates how these global shortcomings play out. Turkey hosts millions of Syrian refugees, and Turkey has made admirable efforts to provide educational opportunities to all Syrian and Iraqi refugees in its border. After 2017, Turkey started to closing refugee camps, and refugee populated temporary education centers. Also, during this time frame, public schools started to accept Syrian students enrollment requests. However the Turkish national education system predominantly follows a curriculum that reflects the language, culture and historical perspective of the host country. While this approach promotes integration into society, it also creates a cultural and linguistic barrier for Syrian students.
The divergence between the Turkish curriculum and a Syrian education system deeply rooted in its language, culture, history and values, accentuates the educational and cultural divide between these students and their host nation. For example, in the Syrian curriculum, the Ottoman Empire is often portrayed as a colonial power, focusing on the aspects of occupation and control, which reflects a critical perspective on Syria's past under Ottoman rule. Syria was under the governance of the Ottoman Empire, which is a Turkic Empire from the year 1516 until it came under the colonization of the British Empire in 1918. Despite the Syrian curriculum conceptualization, the Turkish curriculum celebrates the Ottoman Empire as a glorious period and a source of national pride, highlighting its achievements, cultural richness, and historical significance.
The absence of Syrian refugees’ cultural context in the learning material not only challenges their academic adaptation but also risks erasing their cultural identity and heritage. When educational materials do not recognize or include the heritage of Syrian refugees it unintentionally points out that their past customs and beliefs are undervalued. This might cause feelings of isolation and detachment from their origins and the educational journey. Additionally the lack of context, in the syllabus reduces the opportunity for a compassionate learning atmosphere that promotes respect and empathy among students, from various backgrounds.
Another notable example of the rights violations faced by Syrian refugees in the system of Turkey revolves around the oversimplification and generalization of their identities. Frequently Syrian refugees are grouped as Sunni Arabs overlooking their diverse ethnic, cultural, and religious backgrounds. This broad approach neglects the variety among the refugees, which includes Kurds, Armenians, Assyrians, Alawites, Druze, and various other communities. Each group has their own traditions, languages, and religious beliefs. The failure to recognize the ethnicities, cultures, and religions of refugees in educational environments directly intersects with the violation of their social and cultural rights outlined in international agreements such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Such actions deny refugees the ability to participate fully in the cultural aspects of their host societies while damaging their right to education.
On national and local levels, the implications global gaps become even more visible. The lack of instructional material in refugees’ mother tongues, the limited recognition of refugees’ cultural practices and holidays, and the low incorporation of refugees’ rich historical narratives into the curriculum are vivid examples.
The current educational paradigm for refugees, while striving for inclusivity and quality, raises concerns regarding its potential to disconnect refugees from their culture, language, and previous professional backgrounds. This critique stems from the observation that standardized educational models, particularly those leveraging digital platforms and content, may not fully accommodate the rich tapestry of refugees' cultural identities and linguistic diversity. The emphasis on assimilation into the host country's educational standards and languages can sideline refugees' native languages and cultural practices, leading to a loss of cultural heritage and identity. In summary, the current approaches that have been used for educating refugees often result in the assimilation of displaced communities. This situation is highlighted by the differences between the schooling systems of host nations and the cultural backgrounds of refugees. This situation indicates a violation of the cultural rights of refugees. Prioritizing a curriculum that reflects the language, customs, and history of the host country while neglecting the identities of refugees not only impedes their academic adjustment but also puts at risk their ties to their own cultural heritage. The challenges faced by refugees in Turkey highlight the issue of standardization and cultural dilution within educational frameworks. These practices do not only diminish the quality of refugee education but also highlight broader barriers to achieving fair and culturally sensitive educational approaches.
