More than half of refugee children from Ukraine are not attending school in Poland, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Monday
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 10th July, 2023) More than half of refugee children from Ukraine are not attending school in Poland, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said on Monday.
"500 days after refugees started fleeing the war in Ukraine, more than half of Ukrainian refugee children in Poland are not enrolled in the national school system," the UN agencies said in a joint statement.
Kevin Allen, a UNHCR representative in Poland, said that Ukraine must fully benefit from the education offered to Ukrainian children in Poland, and ensure that they attend schools "building the skills to contribute to a brighter future in Ukraine when conditions permit."
According to the statement, nearly 173,000 children from Ukraine are enrolled in the Polish education system, including Primary and secondary schools.
"Around one in five (22%) Ukrainian students at secondary school age attended a Polish school at the end of the last academic year," the statement read.
Frequent movement to and from Ukraine, language barriers and schools' lack of capacity to absorb new students may be causing low enrollment rates, according to the statement.
