Paris	FRANCE	Educational support for unaccompanied foreign minors

 

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

 

The Droit à l’École association was set up in 2019 to provide schooling for exiled and unaccompanied minors in France who have not been taken into care by the French government. Until they can prove that they are minors, these young people are not taken into care by the Aide Sociale à l’Enfance system, and these procedures take several months, especially if an appeal is lodged with a judge. During this period, these young people are left to fend for themselves, with no accommodation and no opportunity to go to school.

In addition to creating prospects for the future, getting these young people into school enables them to escape the dangers of the street and better integrate into French society. According to estimates, there are around 15,000 of these young people in France, mainly in the Paris region.

 

GOALS

Droit à l’École aims to provide young exiles in France with social and professional opportunities through education, and more broadly to help them integrate into French society.

 

 

Through advocacy work, the association also aims to raise public awareness of the cause of these young people, who have been excluded from the mainstream education system until now.

 

 

RESOURCES

To help unaccompanied foreign minors succeed at school, the association has set up a school, “L’Ecole des Sans Ecole”, on the Ground Control premises in Paris. Teachers and volunteers from the association provide tutoring and support in the main subjects (French, maths, English, etc.). This tutoring ensures that some children do not lose the skills they acquired in their home countries, while others acquire the knowledge they need to integrate into the French school system in the future.

The association’s volunteers also help young people with various administrative procedures (taking tests to get into secondary schools, medical appointments, interviews with social workers, etc.). They also help young people write their CVs and look for work placements or work-linked training schemes.

Finally, the association provides material support to unaccompanied minors by supplying them with school equipment, mobile phones and other goods they need to succeed socially and professionally.

 

 

 

OUR IMPACT

In just a few years of existence, the association has helped to integrate around a hundred unaccompanied minors into the French school system. Highly motivated and well prepared by the association, these young people achieve excellent results at school.

Each year, International Impact sends one or two volunteers to the association. These volunteers take part in the life of the association and, more specifically, of the school, welcoming the young people, taking part in the lessons they are given, helping with administrative follow-up and all other actions linked to their successful integration inside and outside the school. More broadly, they help to raise the profile of the association (communication, responding to calls for projects, setting up partnerships, etc.).

 

 

Photos ©Droit à l’Ecole